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Re: OT: vowel in 'kerb', 'bird'

From:Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
Date:Saturday, June 23, 2001, 17:02
At 12:56 pm +1000 23/6/01, Tristan Alexander McLeay wrote:
>This question is directed primarily to non-rhotic English-speakers. > >Is it just Melbourne, or just Australia, or is the vowel in
Probably not just Melborne - but whether all Australia or not, I'm in no position to know.
>'kerb'/'bird' ect. really [3\:], and not [3:] as is generally shown, and >if it is, then why isn't [3\:] (i.e, closed open e/closed reversed >epsilon) used instead?
Basically, I guess, because it ain't always [3\:] elsewhere. Here in non-rhotic south-east England it is [3:] or, indeed, [3]. The sound certainly varies, in common with all vowel sounds, throughout the anglophone world. Indeed, when one considers what a large section of the globe that encompasses, it would be surprising it it were otherwise. Ray. ========================================= A mind which thinks at its own expense will always interfere with language. [J.G. Hamann 1760] =========================================