Re: Elvish ideas ...

I probably am wrong.... It might be that since u & u: are allophones my
native language is getting in the way... but I could swear the vowel is
long. *shrugs* Its probably me, I stand corrected. :) Can anyone provide
recordings of u contrasted with u: on their own or with the same
consonants surrounding them?

>Quoting Chris Bates <christopher.bates@...>
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>>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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