Re: Elvish ideas ...
| From: | Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, August 19, 2003, 21:55 |
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Quoting Chris Bates <christopher.bates@...>
> I'm checking my pronunciation again... there's definately a long u in my
> "suit"... "assume" pronounced asu:m feels english but maybe with an
> american accent to me... saying prezju:m that feels like a normal
> pronunciation to me too...
I think Mark's point was that for the vast, vast (vast...)
majority of English speakers, vowels are allophonically
lengthened before voiced obstruents. Thus, for a speaker
to have a long [u:] before a voiceless obstruent like in
'suit' is contrary to all expectation. It suggests that
you have a phonemic distinction of length (/u/ v. /u:/)
in addition to one of quality (/u/ v. /U/).
=========================================================================
Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637
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