"I'd be interested myself in other members' comments. For example, do native
speakers of French detect any significant difference between the vowel of
"neuf" and the surface realisation of the first vowel of "pr[@]mier"?" Piotr
GASIOROWSKI
"This answers my question from Message 264:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phoNet/message/264 "
Piotr GASIOROWSKY
__________
As a newbie in the group I have not been through all the past messages yet.
I am so pleased that message of mine confirmed your opinion.
As regards _neuf_ and _premier_ I'd transcribe them phonetically as [noef]
and [proe 'mje] (I can't hear any difference between the vowel of the first
word and the first vowel of the second word.)
and phonemically as /noef/ and /pr@ 'mje/.
By the way did you notice that the Collins Cobuild English Language
Dictionary allows more leeway for the schwas of English. I myself had found
only three - [@/i], [@/a] and [@/u], but they have ten.
Jean-Paul G. POTET, FRANCE