I accidently sent this to Kristen this morning (and then
asked him to forward it but I have time to do it now).
> >OK, since there is definately a difference other than
> >length between the vowel in school/cool/fool/tool versus
> >could/book/wool/woman, I shall henceforth use [w:] for
the
> >former and [u] for the latter. Any objections?
>
> But [w:] would still have the same status as a consonant
> -- this time though its geminate. You need a vowel, so a
> better one would perhaps be [w=] (syllabic [w]), but that
> too is problematic since [u] is essentially a syllabic [w]
> and we agreed that there is a length difference, no?
[w=] sounds good to me.
> Anyways, if you're sure that there's a difference in
> quality as well, and we can't figure out what it is, then
> I guess any symbol will do for now.
In [w=], the hole in the lips is narrower than in [u]. Of
course, both are rounded.
> Hmmm... now I'm really having doubts as to whats happening
> before /l/. I need to hear my Brisbane pals again. I
suspect
> your [w:] is really [u-:]. This actually makes more sense
> now that I think about it. If /l/ has that effect of
erasing
> the [y] glide of long /u/, then [u-y] becomes [u-:] before
> /l/.
Remember, I don't have that diphthong.
I'd use [w=] as the _ooh_ as in, "ooh, that's nice!", should
anyone give me a good back massage or something. :-)
Very much a prolongued consonantal [w].
I'd say the NSW pronunciation of _school_ is [skywl],
compared
to the SA [skw=l].
> >Can you name other English dialects in which [y] is used?
>
> Wild guess: Cockney.
>
> Its the Australian dialects that for me are characterized
> by (among other things) use of [y]. Other dialects of
> English haven't caught my attention in this same regard,
> but they probably exist.
I was listening last night (not for research purposes, no)
to an English drama on cassette, and (a) all the occurences
of
/u/ sound just like the Australian to me, and (b) bear no
resemblance to [w].
> I have added below how I recall these vowels spoken in
> Brisbane. Remember that I'm not a native speaker of
> Brisbane English, so you have to take this with a grain
> of salt.
> >air = [e:@] [e:@_^] ~ [e:]
> >ear = [i:@] [i:@_^] ~ [i:]
>
> (Where [@_^] is a schwa with a non-syllabic diacritic)
These diacritics, too complicated :-)
> What about "boy" [boj] and "boil" [bojl]?
Replace the [o] with the vowel in _law_.
Adrian.