Re: YAEPT alert! [Re: Not phonetic but ___???]

Mark Reed wrote:


> On Thu, Apr 15, 2004 at 08:14:34AM -0400, John Cowan wrote:
> > The familiar
>
> Not to me. :)
Me neither.......

>
> > Wells lexical sets for vowels (KIT, DRESS, TRAP, LOT, STRUT, BATH,
> > CLOTH, NURSE, FLEECE, FACE, PALM, THOUGHT, GOAT, GOOSE, PRICE, CHOICE,
> > MOUTH, NEAR, SQUARE, START, NORTH, FORCE, CURE, and the weak vowels
> > HAPPY, LETTER, and COMMA) make 27 distinctions,
>
> I only count 26 . . .
Someone left out /U/ put, book, took, rook, boog(er) etc.

>...my 'lect seems to have relatively few distinctions at 16:
>
I'm not dissimilar, but merge LOT/PALM/START and CLOTH/THOUGHT.  In toto I
get 19, but four are due to neutralization before /r/-- the vowel of NEAR is
neither [i] nor [I] but in between, though phonemically probably /I/; same
for square /E/?, north/force /O/?, cure /U/?.  And the "weak vowels" of
Happy, Letter and Comma differ from Fleece, Nurse and Strut only in lack of
stress.

I seem to recall a lengthy YAEPT --among many others :-( -- concerning the
quality of vowels preceding /N/ too.