Re: CHAT: IPA Question

Tristan scripsit:

> You, presumably, haven't heard of one George W. Bush, or the people who
> voted him in.
Who, us?  We didn't vote for him.

> Nor is [bremoir@n], but if I went around saying that for 'cucumber',
> you'd be excused for not understanding me.
Hey, I've managed to cope with [kur\dZEt] for "zucchini".

> Stress, maybe length... the recitation form of 'been' and 'bean' are the
> same, but when spoken in a bunch of other words, one woul be [bin] and
> the other [b@i;n] I guess...
What do you mean by [;]?

> Bah, more authentic schmore authentic. Smith's Chips may be the
> original, but Thins are the best. (Not counting things like
> fish-and-chips chips (like french fries, only different for you
> Merkins), pringles, corn chips.)
Americans know what fish-and-chips is, even if we may be a bit vague
about Welsh rabbit, Bombay duck, toad-in-the-hole, bangers and mash, and
bubble and squeak.  And we may perhaps be excused for doubting whether
_riz-de-veau a la financiere_ is really the smile of a calf prepared
according to the recipe of a she-banker.

> The two sounds, though very similar, are different. Trust me. Americans
> (and Canadians, and anyone else who happens to live in that general
> direciton) have a stupid-sounding /&/. I dunno what exactly the
> difference is,
North American /&/ is essentially [E_A], that is [E] with advanced
tongue root.

> but based on the fact that my [e] has run up in
> comparison with your [E], and Kiwi [I] is the equivalent of my [e] (so
> they say nick for neck), and their [e] is the equivalent of my [&] (so
> they say ken for can), it would not suprise me if my [&] was higher than
> yours.
It's really confusing when you play fast and loose with slashes and brackets
like this.  [E] is [E] and [e] is [e] everywhere, though you may realize
/E/ as [e].

--
They do not preach                              John Cowan
  that their God will rouse them                jcowan@reutershealth.com
    A little before the nuts work loose.        http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
They do not teach                               http://www.reutershealth.com
  that His Pity allows them                         --Rudyard Kipling,
    to drop their job when they damn-well choose.   "The Sons of Martha"

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