schwa is not one sound but many

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:36 AM +0000 5/25/08, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>Schwa isn't actually a sound in itself.  It stands for many sounds
>in USA English.  In truespel I wanted to avoid special symbols like
>schwa.  The talking dictionaries speak out the words so they say the
>sounds of schwa and I've transcribed them.  Any dictionary that uses
>schwa is not really phonetic, because schwa stands for many sounds.

and you know this because it's written with different letters?

LH

>
>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems"
>at authorhouse.com.
>
>>  Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 13:58:36 -0500
>>  From: slafaive at GMAIL.COM
>>  Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 21 May 2008 to 22 May 2008 (#2008-144)
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  Poster: Scot LaFaive
>>  Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 21 May 2008 to 22 May 2008 (#2008-144)
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>>Most popular vowel in US English is ~u (short u or "uh") and least is ~oi.
>>
>>  Technically, isn't schwa the most popular (US) English vowel? Or is ~u
>>  your version of schwa?
>>
>>  Scot
>>
>>  On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 6:35 PM, Tom Zurinskas  wrote:
>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>>  Poster: Tom Zurinskas
>>>  Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 21 May 2008 to 22 May 2008 (#2008-144)
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>  In truespel there are 3 "r" affected vowels ~or (as in "or"
>>>"door" "four"), ~er (as in "her") and ~air (as in "air").
>>>  The "o" in ~or is between long o "oh" (~oe) and "awe" (~au). Some
>>>accents tend either way. For "more money" you might hear ~moe
>>>munee~ or ~mau munee~.
>>>
>>>  There are 17 vowels in US English. The 14 other vowels are the 5
>>>short vowels, ~a ~e ~i ~oo ~u (I call ~oo a short o vowel - its
>>>stands for the sound in "foot" wood") The 5 long vowels that have
>>>silent e snugged up to them ~ae ~ee ~ie ~oe ~ue. The two
>>>diphthongs ~ou (as in "out") and ~oi (as in "point") and 2 others
>>>"awe" ~au and "ah" ~aa (as in Saab).
>>>
>>>  Most popular vowel in US English is ~u (short u or "uh") and least is ~oi.
>>>
>>>  Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>>>  See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional
>>>Poems" at authorhouse.com.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>  Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 15:51:32 -0400
>>>>  From: sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM
>>>>  Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 21 May 2008 to 22 May 2008 (#2008-144)
>>>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>>
>>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>-----------------------
>>>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>>>  Poster: sagehen
>>>>  Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 21 May 2008 to 22 May 2008 (#2008-144)
>>>>
>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>  on 5/23/08 12:21 PM, Tom Zurinskas at truespel at HOTMAIL.COM wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>  Actually, there's not a single instance in my truespel database where
>>>>>  tradstreeng "oo" is pronounced as long o, or "oh" ~oe.
>>>>  ~~~~~~
>>>>  What about "door"?
>>>>  ~~~~~~~~
>>>>>  Interestingly, I find in my analysis of English (USA), that
>>>>>tradstreeng "oo"
>>>>>  is more often pronounce as in "look" (~look) and "wood" (~wood)
>>>>>than any other
>>>>>  sound, including long u as in "food" ~fued, and "soon", ~suen.
>>>>>
>>>>>  Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>>>>  ~~~~~~~~~~
>>>>  Without knowing what is meant by "tradstreeng" I nevertheless have to
>>>>  notice: /boo, coo, foo, goo, hoo, loo, moo, poo, roo, too, woo/, and many
>>>>  another with following consonants. In fact, my unresearched
>>>>assumption would
>>>>  be that, faced with an unfamiliar word with "oo" in it the "food" vowel
>>>>  would be one's first choice.
>>>>  AM
>>>>
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