Re: The fourteen vowels of English?

I don't generally get involved with YAEDT threads, but I feel I must just
butt in briefly:

On Saturday, September 4, 2004, at 09:36 , Joe wrote:

> J. 'Mach' Wust wrote:
>
>>
>> Since you've included /Aj@/, why not include /aw@/ as in "sour"? Though
>> I
>> don't really understand why these are so often analyzed as one (compound)
>> vowel sound and not as /Aj, aw/ + /@/.
>>
>>
>>
>
> They are a tripthong.
No, not in all Brit English dialects. In some dialects I can assure you,
_fire_ is pronounced ['faj.j@] and _hour_ ['&w.w@], that is both are
distinctly disyllabic.

I was brought up in Sussex, speaking more or less RP, and later lived for
22 years in one of the 'dissyllabic areas' and my own pronunciation is
currently [faj.@] and [&w.@] respectively, that is not as triphthongs.

But I do concede that [aj@] (or [Aj@]) and [&w@] (or [aw@] - does [Aw@]
actually occur now?) are pronounced as falling triphthongs by some.

> It's just the way they're pronounced, I
> suppose.Both [Aj@] and [Aw@] are heading towards [A:], however, as is
> the trend today(Monopthongising dipthongs/tripthongs).
Yep. And returning to my Sussex childhood, /aw/ was (and AFAIK still is)
pronounced [Ew] - indeed, it wasn't till I got to University that I
acquired the more 'normal' [&w]. Altho _hour_ was pronounced [Ew@], the
possessive _our_ was pronounced just [E:], making _our_ and _air_
homophones. My mother had that pronunciation till her dying day - and I
believe it is still current in Sussex.

OK - where does this all lead us? Simply that in the non-rhotic dialects,
/aw@/ and /aj@/ have a range of pronunciation from truly disyllabic
through triphthongs and diphthongs to monophthongs.

...and now I'll bow out of this thread   :)

Ray
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"They are evidently confusing science with technology."
UMBERTO ECO				September, 2004