Re: [tied] Oddity of English

Andrew Jarrette wrote:

> -- But I don't see how /fa:D&r/ with a quite back vowel can become a
> compromise between /feID&r/ and /faD&r/, both with front vowels
> (even if you are implying with /faD&r/ the more back version of /a/
> that some dialects of English have).

The "Jespersen compromise" would have been reached at a time when the
colour of both vowels was similar, hence my deliberate use of /a/ and
/a:/ (rather than /A:/) in the transcriptions above. The dialects of
northern England may still have the same vowel quality in <father> and
<cat>.

Piotr