Re: question on vowel tensing, fronting, backing, ect.

Mark,

You are partially correct post vocalic Middle English post vocalic /r/ is
replaced in English English (most varieties except the rhotic ones),
NZ/AUS/SA English and Welsh English by the preceding vowel with compensatory
lengthening. However in the example kin: king : keen, this does not hold
true since neither originally had /r/.

Dan




From: Mark J. Reed
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 3:12 PM



On Dec 12, 2007 8:19 AM, Daniel Prohaska <daniel@...> wrote:



> In English English /I/ in <king> is tenser than /I/ in <kin>, but they
> clearly belong to the same phoneme. /i/ in <keen> is much longer and
> tenser
> (sometimes even diphthongised) than tense /I/ in <king>.
> The merger in some varieties of American English is owing to the fact that
> most American English varieties are isochronic, i.e. contrasts are
> determined by vowel quality alone, whereas English-English distinguishes
> quality and quantity (at least in some contexts).




It seems to me that this chronicity difference is, in turn, the result of

the rhoticity difference.  That is, Eastpondian (better, Tristan? :))

dialects use length to mark many of the same distinctions that we

Westpondians mark via rhoticity.  These examples may not be quite right, but

they convey the idea:



bud /bVd/ vs bird /bV:d/

eh /E/ vs air /E:/

flaw /flO/ vs floor /flO:/

--

Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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