16-08-03 18:38, Richard Wordingham wrote:

> central
> half-close [8\] [8]
> mid [&\]
> half-open [3] [3\]
>
> perhaps?
>
> This makes British 'bird' [b8\:d] or [b&\:d]. It certainly isn't
> [b3:d].

I take the liberty to interpret the 1993 table in such a way that [3]
and its rounded counterpart [8] cover mid as well as open-mid qualities
(height diacritics may be added if necessary), since IMO in a system
with full and reduced vowels the schwa symbol [@] (and the near-open
schwa [6], if need be) had better be reserved for phonetically unstable
unstressed vowels and so refer to a different subsystem. Under such an
interpretation the well-established transcription of RP <bird> as [b3:d]
can be retained.

Piotr