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Re: OT: Y/N variants (< OT: English and front rounded vowels)

From:T. A. McLeay <conlang@...>
Date:Wednesday, December 12, 2007, 3:24
Mark J. Reed wrote:
>> Don't forget the very similar [a_nha] (=yes) and [a_n?a] (=no). >> > > Phonemically, those vowels are /V/, which is phonetically something like [3] > IML but in any case quite distinct from [a] to Anglophonic ears. What you > have transcribed is rather "ah-ha!" ("Oh, I see!") and "ah-ah!" ("Oh, no you > don't! You'd better not do that!"). > > The "yes" and "no" forms are usually transcribed "uh-huh" and "uh-uh", and > IME the nasal release is mostly limited to the negative version. > > We Anglophones take our grunting seriously. :)
[a?a]. You're wrong on that one. I have Anglophonic ears and I pronounce /V/ as (central) [a], and so use more-or-less that transcription. In England I think most people would hear [a] as /&/. You can't take anything for granted or make generalisations about what Anglophonic ears do! (As for me, I have: [aha] = yes [aha:] = oh, I see! [a?a] or [a?a?] = no, you're wrong [a?a:] = oh no you don't! So as you can see not only do I take grunting seriously, but also length.) -- Tristan.

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Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>