From: Patrick Ryan
Message: 53914
Date: 2008-02-21
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...>
To: "Patrick Ryan" <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 11:43 AM
Subject: Re[4]: [tied] Re: Finnish KASKI
> At 1:18:25 AM on Thursday, February 21, 2008, Patrick Ryan
> wrote:
>
> > But someone who uses /a/ instead of /aw/ for <Sean> will
> > be misleading a lot of people.
>
> ???
>
> To me /aw/ is the diphthong in <how>, for instance, an
> alternative representation to /aU/. Do you mean the vowel
> of <dawn> or the like? Note that for a great many Americans
> <Don> and <Dawn> are exact homonyms. (For me they're
> [A]~[A.] and [O:], shifted many years ago from an original
> frontish-central [a] and [A.]~[A], respectively.)
>
> Brian
***
You remember how dictionaries used to aid pronunciation with combinations of
this kind - defined in advance, what harm?
The vowel in <how> I would have represented informally as <au> contrasting
with <aw> as in <dawn>, and a used-to-be contrast with <o> in <Don>.
I also pronounce <Don> and <dawn> the same now unless I am speaking
deliberately.
As for your new vocalism, I am glad you switched. [A.]~[A] sounds little too
country for me.
Patrick