Re: The "u" and "v" in older written English is confvsing

On May 27, 1:06 am, Ruud Harmsen <realemailons...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Mon, 26 May 2008 23:43:49 +0100: "Richard Wordingham"
<jrw0...@xxxxxxxxxxx>: in sci.lang:

The question was the apparent rounding of the SUN vowel to the TOP vowel in
some varieties of English English.

Does it really take place?

Yes although perhaps not in every phonetic context. It happens in
Assami, Bengali and Oriya too.

Can people not familiar with back unrounded
vowel distinguish (mid)low rounded ( [A.] or [O] ) from mid high
unrounded (i.e. an [o] without the lip rounding, that's Kirshenbaum
[o-] ).

With no lip rounding, it becomes the "lurve me tender, lurve me krool"
vowel which is easily distinguished from any kind of 'o'. What [o-]
probably means is less rounding rather than no rounding. A slightly
derounded [o:] is difficult to distinguish from a UK English [O:] but
easy to distinguish from a UK English [A.] and also easy to
distinguish from the US English cot/ court vowel.

I couldn't, until I read that that's the true phonetic nature of the
Northern England sun vowel, and also of the put vowel. (So <put> and a
stressed <but> have the same vowel there, in line with the spelling.)

I'm surprised at "put"; how reliable is your information?
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How do you pronounce "HLL"
    ... > sound at the beginning is a vowel. ... it's solely a "pronounciation thing" to use ... language, there are no "pauses" in spoken language, in fact - except for ... English) accent speaking it...definitely problematic is you've got the ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • Re: vowel troubles
    ... > it seems like there're a number of similar vowel sounds in> English yet they're different and sometimes they can make ... A major problem which most adult learners of a second language face ... of his native sound system before he is even aware of it. ... English would insist the vowels in each of these pairs are totally ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Esperantist lies (Re: Learning a language)
    ... rules for English vowel length. ... for phonetics and for foreigners to learn ... the vowel letters are their long sounds. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: vowel troubles
    ... > from my English teacher for the language and all people speaking it, ... > American English, whatever it is, but definetely not British or something of ... to the "men" vowel, but we think of it as closer to the Russian ... some things you were taught about pronunciation. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: accents
    ... English in England. ... > Would you say there is a shwa sound in RP's "early"? ... >> definition in unstressed syllables. ... > the un-neutralised vowel. ...
    (sci.lang)
Quantcast