the long vowels as monophthongs

[Doug Harris]

I was amazed to see, in your (Neal's) remark to (your) Doug, your use of
so technical a term as "smushed together". Clearly, you had even then a
keen awareness of your son's ability to grasp complex concepts. No doubt
because of his demonstration in the diphthong department!

Quote from Neal's 'Diphthongs For Doug' entry in "Literal Minded":
"Congratulations, Doug," I said. "You've figured out that the long a sound
is actually two sounds smushed together.

dh

Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
Subject:      Re: the long vowels as monophthongs
---

You don't (always) even have to be trained in phonetics to hear the
diphthong. My son realized it for the "long A" sound when he was in
kindergarten, and I'd never told him about diphthongs at all. Details at:
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2005/12/14/diphthongs-for-doug/.

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