CHAT: reduced vowels in English (was: -i/yse vs -i/yze in England)

> > Tristan Alexander McLeay wrote:
> > > Any (semi-)official publication will *definately* use the -ise
> > > spellings.
> Irina Rempt wrote:
> > And it will definitely use "definitely" :-)
Tristan Alexander McLeay wrote:
> All I can say to that is `Damn schwa'.
Not all dialects equate all reduced vowels.  I *think* that my schwa in
these two words would be /E/- and /I/-colored respectively, but maybe
I'm only hearing what I want to hear.  (I only recently noticed that I
say /@j, @w/ at least sometimes.)

This relates* to my main gr@jp about the new Oxford English Dictionary.
The old one used something like a "diaphonic" notation, which shows a
phonemic distinction if any dialect makes it, never mind if some
dialects pronounce two or more symbols alike.  The new dictionary shows
the standard dialect in IPA -- making it a Dictionary of Oxford English.

* retlates? restlates?

--
Anton Sherwood  --  http://www.ogre.nu/

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