schwa-raising - common samples

[Cecil Ward]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I am very grateful to Mark Jones for his insightful remarks, and for
bringing some sanity to this discussion.

Unfortunately, I am not able to hear Mark's subjects' speech, nor has Mark
had access to the speakers I have quoted. It would be good if we could
compare perceptions of the same material. Bob was good enough to give an
example that was recorded and publicly accessible. I'll try to do the same
so that Mark can give his opinion on a specific example.

Maybe some sound recordings on the Web somewhere?

> I'm not sure what Cecil's linguistic background is,

I was brought up in England in rural Staffordshire and my parents are
farming people, speakers of Derbyshire and North Staffordshire dialects.

My dialect of English may differ significantly from that of Mark Jones,
which doesn't help. I find great difficulty with many phonetic textbooks
that deal with English and refer to "RP" or "Standard English", southern
varieties that I don't have a command of.

I am certainly no phonetician, and English is not my specialist study.
(Scottish Gaelic syntax is, for what its worth.)

> Essentially, it is all very well for me and others to bandy our opinions
around, but these things can be tested empirically, and really should be,
before we come to any conclusions.

Indeed, and we first have to find some common data.

I'd like to ask Mark if he can find a speaker in which there is a wide
variation _of the same word_, as in my falcin/falcon BBC reporter.

Perhaps a researcher could check out hearers' perceptions too by asking them
to write down what they hear?

Cecil Ward.