Re[10]: [tied] Re: PIE initial *a

At 8:30:27 PM on Thursday, May 15, 2008, Andrew Jarrette
wrote:

[...]

> When Americans use their /a/ (in <pot>, <father>) for
> Italian [a], it does not sound like the Italian [a], to my
> ear at least, being articulated noticeably further back
> than the Italian sound;

I agree: the Italian vowel is low front, and the American
vowel is generally low central.

Brian