JNW's English

The pronunciation of words, as per Jonathan North Washington

[ʌ]

• strawberry - [ˈst^hɻʌbÆɹij]
• wash - [wʌʃ]
• Washington - [ˈwʌʃɪŋtɪn]
• squash - [skwʌʃ]

[wɔ]

• quarter - [ˈk^hɔɹɾɻ] (but quarry - ['kwɔɻij])
• quartz, courts - [k^hɔɹts] (is there a difference in aspiration?)

[ɛ]

• catch - [k^hɛʧ]
• that (conj) - [ðɛt]

[ʌj]

• /ɑj/ before voiced consonants is [ɑj]
  • 'eyes' [ɑjz]
  • 'bide' [bɑjd]
• /ɑj/ before voiced consonants is [ʌj]
  • 'ice' [ʌjs]
  • 'bite' [bʌjt]
• there are exceptions
  • Idaho [ʌj], Ida [ʌj]
  • cider [ʌj], spider [ʌj]
  • icon [ɑj], nikon [ʌj], daikon [ɑj]
  • cyclops [ʌj / ɑj], but psycho [ʌj]
• interesting contrasts:
  • high [ɑj], high school [ʌj]
  • 'I scream' [ɑj], 'ice cream' [ʌj]

[Æ]

• /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]
      • tractor-trailer (the way I said it as a kid) - [ˈtˢɻʰæktɻ ˌtˢɻʰÆlɻ]
  • 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/ & /ɪ/)

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 stɩ/
  • ox-en — /ˈɑk sɩn/
• This can be seen in many other words.
  • Jonathan — /ˈʤɑ nə θɩn/
  • happen(ed) — /ˈhæ pʰɩn(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

Exception: labial codas:

other

• comfortable - [ˈk^h̃ʌft^hɻb(ə)ɫ]
• Wednesday - [ˈwɛn(d)zdej]
• February - [ˈfɛbjʉwÆɻij]

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]

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