16.2163, Qs: Irish Language Speakers; Phonemic Distictions

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-16-2163. Fri Jul 15 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.2163, Qs: Irish Language Speakers; Phonemic Distictions

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===========================Directory==============================  

1)
Date: 14-Jul-2005
From: Sandra Beyer < SurveySandraBeyer at gmail.com >
Subject: Call for Irish Language Speakers 

2)
Date: 14-Jul-2005
From: Tom Kun < tomkun83 at hotmail.com >
Subject: Phonemic Distictions in English 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 12:13:03
From: Sandra Beyer < SurveySandraBeyer at gmail.com >
Subject: Call for Irish Language Speakers 
 

For my MA Applied Linguistics dissertation I am looking for Irish people
(who speak Irish) to fill in a short questionnaire.

If you are Irish, or know Irish people (either living in Ireland or the UK)
who might be interested in taking part in the study, please contact me at

SurveySandraBeyer at gmail.com

The questionnaire should not take more than 10-15 minutes to complete and
is available via email. 

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

Sandra Beyer
MA Applied Linguistics
Birkbeck College
University of London 

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics



	
-------------------------Message 2 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 12:13:06
From: Tom Kun < tomkun83 at hotmail.com >
Subject: Phonemic Distictions in English 

	

1. Some people have been arguing on the Antimoon forum
(http://www.antimoon.com/forum) about whether there might be a
''libel-bible'' split going on in Australia.  The whole mess started when
someone posted a huge minimal pair survey on the UniLang forum, and one of
the pairs was ''libel-bible.''  Three Australians answered that they
pronounced them differently.  Someone then asked a question on the Antimoon
forum about it, posting a link to the UniLang survey.  The Antimooners
wrote it all off as ''troll activity.''  So is there any real split going on?

2. Speaking of Australia, some Australians I've met on forums such as the
ones mentioned above claim a slight distinction between ''bred'' and
''bread.''  For them the vowel in ''bread'' is slightly longer.  Anyone
know anything more?

3. I have a friend who was born in Alaska, grew up in Arizona and Florida,
and most recently has lived in North Carolina.  She pronounces ''there''
and ''they're'' as [De:r] but ''their'' as [D3:r].  And yes, she is aware
of it and thinks we're all strange for pronouncing all three the same.  I
have never heard of any such phenomenon, is it a characteristic of some region? 

Linguistic Field(s): Phonology
                     Sociolinguistics


 



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