----- Original Message -----
From: "Josh Roth" <Fuscian@...>
> In a message dated 12/14/02 6:08:28 PM, mktvr@COMCAST.NET writes:
>
> >From: "Joseph Fatula" <fatula3@...>
> >> > > 1. Is it reasonable to have the diphthongs [aI], [OI], and [aU]
> >even
> >> > > though I do not have the individual sounds of [a], [O] or [U]?
> >> >
> >> > Yes. American English has the diphthongs [aI], [aU], [eI], [oU]
> >> > but not [a], [e], [o] by themselves.
> >>
> >> All of a sudden I feel as though I've misunderstood SAMPA...
> >>
> >> Is the first vowel sound in American English "father" [a]? The way
that
> >> sounds normal to me doesn't seem to have any diphthongization at all.
> >
> >General American has [A] in "father". But I'm not sure of [aI] and [aU],
> >here
> >it's more like [AI] and [{U] ...
>
> That’s just what I was going to say, except that the second element seems
> higher to me in each, so they'd be something like [Ai] and [{u]. I think
some
> Southern English uses [a] in the first diphthong, and some also drop the
[i],
> so you can have a distinction like 'cot' [kAt] and 'kite' [kat]. And here
in
> New York at least, /Ai/ has an allophone [Vi] that occurs before unvoiced
> consonants. Further up north, like in Canada (and Minnesota maybe, and
other
> places maybe), /{u/ seems to have an allophone [Vu] or [@u] before
unvoiced
> consonants.
>
> I don't fully agree with the representations [eI] and [oU] either. I'd
would
> say that they vary between [Ei] and [ei] for the one, and [Vu] and [ou]
for
> the other, with the second, more closed allophone of each occuring before
a
> consonant, and the first occuring occur at the end of a word and before
other
> vowels. For example, 'weigh' [wEi] and 'weighed' [weid]. Or maybe the
second
> is is [weId] after all, or something in between, I don't know....
>
> As for the original question, it is reasonable to have sounds in
diphthongs
> that you don’t have separately, but just be sure that those are really the
> sounds you want.
>
After all this I'm not sure of anything! :) I'd like to just find a
linguist, talk to them, and have them transcribe what they hear me say. :)
----------------------------------------
Michael David Martin, Master Mason
Temecula/Catalina Island Lodge #524
Free & Accepted Masons of California