Re: Re[2]: [tied] Re: Finnish KASKI

All true.

But someone who uses /a/ instead of /aw/ for <Sean> will be misleading a lot
of people.

I have no objection to using <a> for <o> (<knot>) or <a> for <æ> (<gnat>)
but what symbol should be reserved for central /a/ in <father>? It used to
be <ä>.


Patrick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...>
To: "Patrick Ryan" <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:22 PM
Subject: Re[2]: [tied] Re: Finnish KASKI


> At 7:27:10 PM on Wednesday, February 20, 2008, Patrick Ryan
> wrote:
>
> > Jouppe, you are confusing me.
>
> > Sorry to be dogmatic, but the tongue is in the central
> > position of the mouth when [a] in father is pronounced or
> > it is not.
>
> For a particular speaker. I've heard native speakers of
> U.S. varieties who use a front [a] in <father>, and others
> who use a back [A], though the most common realization of
> /a/ is neither front nor back. (I don't like to use
> 'central' in this context, since I usually use it to mean
> 'not front, not back, not high, and not low'.)
>
> There's certainly no reason that /a/ can't be a back vowel:
> OE /a/ seems to have been a back vowel, for instance, the
> low front vowel being /æ/.
>
> Brian
>
>
>