Chinglish

[Terry Irons]

Folks,

After years of adamantly arguing that the vowel before a velar nasal (as
in the word "linguistics" or "English") is an [I] and not an [i]. I may
be coming to a realization that Natalie Maynor experienced as an
epiphany years ago on the "tennis" court.  The vowel may in fact be an
[i].  I have tried to convince students that what they hear is the
nasalization which makes the vowel sound perceptually as if it were an
[i] but that in fact it is an [I].    But spectrograms with some
students belie that claim.  While it is true that the nasalization
lowers the formant, it is also the case that nasalization can change the
articulation.  The lowering of the velum to allow air flow in the nasal
cavity effectively changes the shape of the oral cavity and in effect
raises the articulatory position of the preceding vowel.

BTW, I had the discussion in class today with a student who argues that
he says English with an [i] not an [I].  I tried to get him to use the
words "scene" and "sin" to support my view.  He remains a bit confused,
but I have to acknowledge that his pronunciation, while not the same as
the vowel in "scene" is in fact closer to the vowel in "scene" than it
is to the vowel in "sin."

--
Virtually, Terry
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Terry Lynn Irons        t.irons at morehead-st.edu
Voice Mail:             (606) 783-5164
Snail Mail:             150 University BLVD UPO 604 Morehead, KY 40351
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