Re: The fourteen vowels of English?

Steven Williams írta: "'Red-haired.'

D'oh! =P

"I have a funny little split I noticed in my dialect (standard American,
mild Southern influence). In certain words, I pronounce [&] something like
[&@], and in others, it's straight [&]. [...] I can't think of any minimal
pairs, so this seems to be a complementary distribution, where [&@] is an
allophone of [&] before nasals [m] and [n] and voiced plosives and [&] is
the phonetic realization every where else. Depending on the stress of the
word and personal whim, [&] before [N] and [r\] seems to be, allophonically,
either [E] or [&]. I tend to lean towards [&] more in higher registers of
speech, where I make an effort to be understood clearly, and [E] in fast
speech, since it's easier to articulate quickly. Anyone else have this
speech characteristic? It's very common around where I live (central
Florida) and seems to be just a general American phonetic phenomenon.

I think you're right: My grandmother at least (who's lived in the Midwest
all her life AFAIK [I haven't noticed [&]~[&@] in my other relatives'
speech; I'll pay attention next time I visit them]) has [&@]. I lack this
particular allophonic distinction.

What puzzles me tho is [EN] rather than /&N/ (henceforth, /&N/ refers to the
possibility of both [&N] and [&@N] occurring) in your speech ([Er\] doesn't
surprise me. In words like "carry", which I would transcribe phonemically as
/k&r\i/, my 'lect lowers the [&] to [E]). I haven't noticed [EN]</&N/ in my
grandmother's speech (altho I only see her for one-two weeks a year, as my
family lives so far away, so I don't have much time to listen to her speech.
I'm not so sure about my grandfather's speech; IIRC he lacks [&@]).

I also recall my grandmother's [&@]'s being a bit nasalized. Do you notice
this phenomenon in your speech?

"General American seems to be [OU] or something similar.

Hmm, well, that's always possible--I'm not a linguist, so I guess since my
ears aren't trained I can't really hear the difference so much (if I
pronounce those diphthongs carefully I can distinguish them ATM, but I guess
[OU)] gets neutralized to [@U)] in fast speech in my 'lect, or something).

"Just out of curiosity, which dialect are you
speaking?

Southern Ontario English (a dialect which in monosyllabic words neutralizes
the main part of a diphthong, e.g. "ride" [r\AI)d] ~ "write/right" [r\@I)t]
(or maybe [r\VI)t]? I can't tell for sure)--does anyone else notice this in
their speech?).

Trebor

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