>
> >...So why a in 'father'
> > rather than in 'pasta'?
> >
> > Hrimalfr
>
> A perfect example of what Chad/icelandstone posted earlier about
> pronunication across languages.
>
> In my dialect, 'father' and 'pasta' use the exact same vowel sound.

Go

> figure.
>
> -Laz

I am a native speaker of English, and in my dialect 'pasta'
and 'father' are both pronounced with /a/, not with the /æ/ ~ /a/
distinction maintained in some parts of Britain. The thing British
speakers should remember here is that the people in Britain who
pronounce 'pasta' /pæ:st@/ (distinguishing it from the 'a'
in 'father') are not pronouncing it as in Italian, where it's
invariably /pa:sta/.

I realize not everyone on this list is a phonologist (or even a
linguist), but it has to be realized that sounds in languages other
than English cannot be described with the traditional English
phonological terminology, like 'hard', 'soft', 'long a' (meaning /e/
not /a/), etc.

I realize also that the various books in English provide horrendous
descriptions of the phonological systems, using this very same
outdated terminology!

Chad