From: Patrick Ryan
Message: 40597
Date: 2005-09-25
----- Original Message -----
From: "david_russell_watson" <liberty@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 1:58 AM
Subject: North-American English (was Re: ka and k^a [was: [tied] *kW- "?"])
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
> wrote:
> > --- In cybalist "glen gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
> > >
> > > No way. In Standard Canadian English, the diphthong
> > > "ai" is pronounced /aj/ -- that's a central vowel in
> > > this case.
> >
> > SCE <ai> is pronounced [ey] not [ay].
>
> It isn't really pronounced [ey]. Before a voiceless
> obstruent the onset of /aI/ is a noticeably closer
> vowel than used in most of the U.S., but not as close
> as [e], since /eI/ and /aI/ remain distinct. In all
> other positions the onset is no different from that
> used in most of the U.S., which is [a].
>
> Do a websearch on "Canadian Raising" for more about
> this feature, although it's found in some parts of the
> northern U.S. as well, including Minnesota, as Glen
> noted.
>
> People are influenced by their own phonemic system
> when interpreting speech sounds, in fact can't really
> get around it without special training, and I suspect
> that that's what's behind your hearing [ey] in this
> instance, as well as behind your insisting that the
> preglottalization of voiceless stops in the positions
> claimed is uncommon in North-American English, which
> it isn't.
>
> David
***
Patrick:
You may well be right. Subjectivity is a terribly sly demon to confront.
On the vowel quality, I guess you may be right. Speaking GE insulates one
from paying too much attention to less prevalent vowel qualities.
On pre-glottalization, I still harbor my doubts. Being familiar with the
glottal stop through German proficiency and the study of Arabic, I am
probably a little more attuned to spotting it than the average English
speaker.
What I have noticed in some lower-class speakers, and interpreted as mere
sloppy enunciation, might have been glottalization. I will pay more
attention from now on.
However, I still would maintain, based on my own experience, that the
phenomenon is definitely lower class.