Re: Vowels [was: Finnish KASKI]

Good God, where do you find the time to keep up with everything like this?

Patrick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 1:19 AM
Subject: [tied] Vowels [was: Finnish KASKI]


> On 2008-02-21 07:18, Patrick Ryan wrote:
>
> > But someone who uses /a/ instead of /aw/ for <Sean> will be misleading a
> > lot of people.
>
> The COT/CAUGHT merger is nevertheless gaining ground in US English (in
> Canada it was completed a long time ago). Speakers of a given accent
> usually don't give a damn if their pronunciation confuses other people.
> Speakers of British English may find it misleading that Americans don't
> distinguish "ant" from "aunt", but who cares?
>
> > 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>.
>
> Outside of New England and the NYC/NJ area it's unusual for modern US
> accents to contrast the vowels of the COT and FATHER sets. They have
> merged almost everywhere. Since the COT/FATHER vowel may range anywhere
> between [A] and [æ] depending on the local accent, it's reasonable to
> use /a/ as a phonemic cover symbol, ignoring the phonetic details. In
> the IPA transcription system, [a] stands for the front low cardinal
> vowel, but in practice phoneticians use it for any low vowel which is
> not distinctively back.
>
> The "vowel space" underlying the IPA system is quadrangular, and points
> within it are supposed to symbolise the position of the highest point of
> the tongue surface. But in fact few languages have a phonemic contrast
> between [a] and [A], and the "psychological vowel space" is triangular
> rather than trapezoid (which is why the most common type of vowel
> systems is something like {a, e, o, i, u}).
>
> Some modern theories of phonological representation have given up
> traditional tongue-position features like [+/-back] and use abstract
> "elements", corresponding to three "extreme" vowel qualities (symbolised
> as A, I, U), instead. Vowels other than [a], [i] and [u] are regarded as
> combinations of those elements, e.g. (A, I) = [e], (A, U) = [o], () =
> [&] (a neutral vowel, often symbolised as "@", phonetically
> corresponding to a schwa). A combination may be regarded as "headed" if
> one of the elements is dominant, e.g. (A_, I) = [E] (mid-low), (A, I_) =
> [e] (mid-high), (I_, U) = [y] (high, front and rounded), (I, @_) = [I]
> (centralised high), etc. ("@" is the "zero" of the system and doesn't
> have to be explicitly present in the representation _unless_ it
> functions as the head).
>
> Piotr
>
>
>
>