ah/ awe

[Tom Zurinskas]

>From: Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>

>If you elongate the vowel in BET, you get a longer version of the same
>word. If you elongate the vowel in BITE, you will (a) distort the word
>(b) feel your tongue moving from the position, roughly, in HOT to the
>position in BIT (or even BEET). This doesn't mean that BITE is a two
>syllable word; it isn't. But its vowel sound is complex.

I'm sorry, Alice.  And from Yale yet.  For shame.  --Only kidding.  Only
kidding.  I was raised in CN till 18. It's odd that CN did not pick up the
heavy dialects of closely surrounding states NY and Mass.

So here's what I maintain asseverate and declare.  Long a and long i as said
in m-w.com and as can be heard by anybody are not diphthongs.  They are
monophthongs.

Note the words "rot" and "right" .  The word "right" does not start out as
"rot" and then with a wee transition vowel in it before "t."  It goes right
from the "r" to long i then to "t".  The tongue is in a different position
for the "o" in "rot" than for the "i" in "right".  The tongue does not
transition during "right".

So I disagree.  It's just an honest opinion.  Books can be written based on
other dialects than m-w.com and thus be wrong in comparison.  If there were
to be a vote I'd say monophthong, and I've had quite a bit of practice in
this.

Tom Z

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