Re: some more Irish vowels


"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Ekkehard Dengler wrote:
"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Ekkehard Dengler wrote:
"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Out of curiosity, I picked up an Ivor Novello album, and John
McCormick
sings (beautifully, of course) "Keep the Home Fires Burning" --
but he
doesn't rhyme "yearning" with "burning"! "Burning" has myrrh, as
expected, but "yearning" has Mary!

Many Irish people pronounce non-prevocalic "ir/yr" and "ur" alike
while
keeping "er/ear" distinct. I don't think "yearning" has "Mary",
though;
I
would say it has the "dress" vowel (or "merry", if you like).
In the northwest (and possibly in other parts of the country),
non-prevocalic "ar" has a much closer vowel than "trap", so that
both
"hard"
and "heard" can sound like [hErd].

Again, because merry and Mary are perfectly distinct for me, I have no
trouble identifying which is used in McC's "yearning."

Judging by http://www.aftermathww1.com/homefires.asp, you've simply
misidentified McCormack's "merry": [jE::rnIN] = /jErnIN/. If anything,
the
first vowel in "yearning" is slightly lower than that in "glen".

Glen is merry.

McC's yearning is Mary.

No, you're mistaken -- and apparently reluctant to admit it. You've only
just found out that "burn" and "yearn" don't rhyme in one particular Irish
accent and here you are defending your preconceived idea of the speaker's
phonology. You clearly don't know what you're talking about. "Mary" would
not have [E], and you can't have misheard lowish [E] as [e]. Listen to that
recording again or try listening to an Irish radio station.

Regards,
Ekkehard


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: some more Irish vowels
    ... Ekkehard Dengler wrote: ... In the northwest (and possibly in other parts of the country), ... Again, because merry and Mary are perfectly distinct for me, I have no ... McC's yearning is Mary. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: some more Irish vowels
    ... Ekkehard Dengler wrote: ... In the northwest (and possibly in other parts of the country), ... Again, because merry and Mary are perfectly distinct for me, I have no ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: some more Irish vowels
    ... Ekkehard Dengler wrote: ... In the northwest (and possibly in other parts of the country), ... Again, because merry and Mary are perfectly distinct for me, I have no ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: some more Irish vowels
    ... Ekkehard Dengler wrote: ... McC's yearning is Mary. ... recording again or try listening to an Irish radio station. ... and "yearning" is sung with the Mary vowel. ...
    (sci.lang)
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