JNW's English: Difference between revisions

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*** Beowulf (/Æ/)
*** Beowulf (/Æ/)
**** tractor-trailer (the way I said it as a kid) - [ˈtˢɻʰæktɻ ˌtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
**** tractor-trailer (the way I said it as a kid) - [ˈtˢɻʰæktɻ ˌtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
**** those two 'trailer's have recently merged to [ˈtˢɻʰejlɻ], but trail+er is still [ˈtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
**** those two 'trailer's have recently merged to [ˈtˢɻʰejlɻ], but trail er is still [ˈtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
*** nightmare - [ˈnʌjtmejɻ]
*** nightmare - [ˈnʌjtmejɻ]
*** "night mare" - [ˈnʌjtmÆɻ]
*** "night mare" - [ˈnʌjtmÆɻ]
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** wagon, hang - [wæjgɩn], [hæjŋ]
** wagon, hang - [wæjgɩn], [hæjŋ]


== /ɩ/ (vs. /ə/ & /ɪ/) ==
== /ɩ/ (vs. /ə/
* Reduced vowels are typically realised as [ə] in English:
** about — [ə ˈbau̯t]
** beneath — [bə ˈniːθ]
** Winnepesauki — [wɪ nə pə ˈsɒ ki]
** onomatopœia — [ɑ nə mɑ ɾə ˈpiː ə]
 
* In closed syllalbes, reduced vowels are realised as [ɩ]:
** This is visible in the application of several morphemes.
*** rose-s — /ˈɻɤo̯ zɩz/
*** test-ed — /ˈtʰɛ stɩd/
*** ox-en — /ˈɑk sɩn/
** This can be seen in many other words.
*** Jonathan — /ˈʤɑ nə θɩn/
*** happen(ed) — /ˈhæ pɩn(d)/
** This can also be demonstrated derivationally.
*** religion — /ɻə ˈlɪ ʤɩn/
*** religionise — /ɻə ˈlɪ ʤə nɑi̯z/ (some less morphemic parsings lend to /ɻə ˈlɪ ʤɩ nɑi̯z/, with an almost syllabic [ʤ̩] often
 
* In a closed syllable with a labial coda, reduced vowels are realised as [ə]:
** This is visible in the application of several (clitical) morphemes.
*** he'll've — [ˈhɪl əv]
*** get 'em — [ˈgɛ ɾəm]
** This is visible in some other words, though I can mostly only think of names and made-up words.
*** item — [ˈʌi̯ ɾəm], victim — [ˈvɪk(t) təm]
*** Jacob — [ˈʤe kəp]
*** Caleb — [ˈkʰei̯ ləb]
*** *soroft — [ˈsɔɻ əft]
** I take that back; I seem to've found some good examples
*** turnip — [ˈtɻnəp]
*** victim — [ˈvɪkt təm]
*** system — [ˈsɪs stəm]
*** bottom — [ˈbɑ ɾəm]
*** custom — [ˈkʌs stəm]
 
* Data that still need to be considered:
** words like:
*** confuse
*** condition
** other words like:
*** civil, civilisation
*** get 'im vs. get 'em
*** presumably ('''how do I syllabify this??''')
** the pair mistake [mɨ(s)ʼstejk] / mistook [mɪs'tʊk]
 
== voicing ==
Some consonants are [un]voiced in a way that's unexpected:
 
* Jacob — [ˈʤe kəp]
* Virginia — [ˈfɻʤɪnjə]
* substitute — [ˈsʌpstɪtʉt]
* hubcap — [ˈhʌpkæp] (?)
* ostrich, sandwich — [ ˈɒstɻɪdʒ], [ˈsÆndwɪdʒ]
 
== other ==
* comfortable - [ˈkʰʌ̃ftʰɻb(ə)ɫ]
* Wednesday - [ˈwɛn(d)zdej]
* February - [ˈfɛbjʉwÆɻij]
 
== Elision ==
* fam(i)ly
* fav(ou)rite
* ast(e)roid
* priv(i)lege
* p(o)tato
* p(a)thetic
* k(a)tana
* t(o)mato
=== of /r/?? ===
* su(r)prise
* rese(r)voir
* kinde(r)garten
* Feb(r)uary
* cate(r)piller
 
== Words I never got ==
Because of the loss of sarcasm in fixed expressions using these words (or something like that), I never could tell what they meant—the general idea was there, but as far as I could tell, their antonyms seemed as correct as they did, if not more.
* immaculate
* impeccable
* trivial
 
== Other People ==
 
=== My Family ===
Some family members have "weird" pronunciations:
* [ˈdɑjəpɹ] for [ˈdʌjpɹ] ("diaper")
* [ˈdɑjəmənd] for [ˈdɑjmɩnd] ("diamond")
* [hɒp] for [hɑp] ("hop")
* [ˈrɛs.stɻ.ənt] for [ˈrɛs.stɻ.ɑnt] ("restaurant")
* [wɪð] for [wɪθ]
* [bə ˈkʌs] for [bə ˈkʌz]
* [ə sow ʃij ˈej ʃɩn] for [ə sow sij ˈej ʃɩn] ("association")
* [mə ˈtɻ jəl] for [mə ˈtijɻ ij əl] ("material")
 
=== Media ===
Some media (music, commercials) have objectionable rhymes:
* pauper/copper/whopper
* choclate/pocket
* ‘ooh and aah’ where ‘aah’ == ‘aww’
* see also: [[Other People's English]]
 
== Overall vowel system ==
{|style="text-align: center";
|+ JNW's Vowels
! location !! tense !! lax !! diphthong !! before ɻ !! examples
|-
| high front || i¹ || ɪ,ɨ || ɪw || i (j ← ɪw) || heed, hid, hued, hear/pure
|-
| mid front || e¹ || ɛ ||  || ᴁ || hayed, head, hair
|-
| low front || ᴁ || æ¹ || aw || — (aw ← aw) || hand/hail, had, how, —
|-
| low back || ɒ || ɑ || ɑj || ɒ (aj ← aj) || hawed, odd, high, hard
|-
| mid back || o¹ || ə,ʌ || ʌj || ɔ || hoed, hut, height, hoard/horde/whore
|-
| high back || ʉ¹ || ʊ || ɔj || ɔ || hoot, hood, Hoyt, tour
|}
 
Notes:
* ¹ Long or diphthongal
* ² Can be nucleus of heavy syllable
 
Back to [[Linguistic Musings]]
[[Category:Linguistics]]
[[Category:Phonology]]
[[Category:Phonetics]]

Revision as of 00:16, 6 July 2007

The pronunciation of words, as per Jonathan North Washington

[ʌ]

  • strawberry - [ˈstʰɻʌbÆɹij]
  • wash - [wʌʃ]
  • Washington - [ˈwʌʃɪŋtɩn]
  • squash - [skwʌʃ]

[wɔ]

  • quarter - [ˈkʰɔɹɾɻ] (but quarry - ['kwɔɻij])
  • quartz, quarts, courts - [kʰɔɹts] (is there a difference in aspiration?)

[ɛ]

  • catch - [kʰɛʧ]
  • that (conj) - [ðɛt]

[ʌj]

  • /ɑj/ before voiced consonants is [ɑj]
    • 'eyes' [ɑjz]
    • 'bide' [bɑjd]
  • /ɑj/ before unvoiced consonants is [ʌj]
    • 'ice' [ʌjs]
    • 'bite' [bʌjt]
  • there are "exceptions" (they could be rule-based, having something to do with what counts as syllable-coda)
    • Idaho [ʌj], Ida [ʌj]
    • cider [ʌj], spider [ʌj]
    • icon [ɑj], nikon [ʌj], daikon [ɑj]
    • cyclops [ʌj / ?ɑj], but psycho [ʌj / *ɑj]
  • interesting contrasts:
    • high [ɑj], high school [ʌj]
    • 'I scream' [ɑj], 'ice cream' [ʌj]

[Æ]

See Æ for phonetic information on this vowel.

  • /ej/ before /l,r/ is [Æ]
    • ail/ale - [Æl]
      • Al - [æl] (shows /æ/Æ/ contrast)
      • trailer (before a movie) - [ˈtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
      • trailer (behind a truck) - [ˈtˢɻʰejlɻ]
      • mailing / Maling (/Æ/ej/)
      • Beowulf (/Æ/)
        • tractor-trailer (the way I said it as a kid) - [ˈtˢɻʰæktɻ ˌtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
        • those two 'trailer's have recently merged to [ˈtˢɻʰejlɻ], but trail er is still [ˈtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
      • nightmare - [ˈnʌjtmejɻ]
      • "night mare" - [ˈnʌjtmÆɻ]
    • air - [Ær]
  • /æ/ before /m,n/ is [Æ]
    • an, hand - [Æn], [hÆnd]
      • Hannah - [ˈhænə]
  • /æ/ before /ŋ,g/ is [æj]
    • wagon, hang - [wæjgɩn], [hæjŋ]

== /ɩ/ (vs. /ə/

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