All 40 USA English phonemes (Was Re: Eggcorn? "warn" > "worn")

[Neal Whitman]

In the first sentence of your message you grant that /N/ (aka "ng") is a
phoneme in its own right, but two sentences later you seem to imply that [N]
("ng") is (only) an allophone of the phoneme /n/ ("the n is velar rather
than alveolar, but that kind of thing goes on with other phonemes"). Since
you didn't include the sound in the sentence you constructed, and in light
of previous discussions, I conclude the latter position is the one you take.

As you point out, another issue is the vowel vefore [N]. In previous
discussions, IIRC, you argued that the meaning contrast between, for
example, "sin" and "sing" did not prove that /n/ and /N/ were separate
phonemes, on the grounds that it's the different vowels (in part) that
distinguish the words: [I] ("short I") in "sin" and [i] ("long E") in
"sing". As I wrote in a blog post at the time, there is some room for
disagreement whether the vowel in "sing" is [I] or [i]. So let's suppose
that the vowel in "sing" really is [i]. In that case, what is it that
distinguishes "sing" from "seen"? If the vowel in both is [i], then the only
thing that distinguishes these words is the [n] vs. [N], which would again
make the two separate phonemes by definition. (Of course, [N] could *also*
be an allophone of /n/, appearing in words like "encroach" or "concave",
where a speaker could pronounce the /n/ as [n] or [N] and not change the
meaning of the word, but the "seen/sin/sing" facts would still accord /N/
status as a phoneme.)

 In any case, putting a word with an [N]/"ng" into your sentence wouldn't
hurt, even if you didn't believe it was a phoneme. That way, you'd be
covered in both cases.

(The blog post, for those who weren't here for the earlier go-round:
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/engma-enigma/)

Neal


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Zurinskas" <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 8:20 PM
Subject: Re: All 40 USA English phonemes (Was Re: Eggcorn? "warn" > "worn")


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: All 40 USA English phonemes (Was Re: Eggcorn? "warn" >
>              "worn")
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Your looking for the "ng" phoneme.  That's treated in truespel as merely n
> and g.  Granted the n is velar rather than alveolar, but that kind of
> thing goes on with other phonemes so it's not biggie.  As mentioned
> before, the real biggie is the vowel sound before the velar n.
>
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> see truespel.com
>
> ----------------------------------------
>> Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:46:17 -0500
>> From: nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET
>> Subject: All 40 USA English phonemes (Was Re: Eggcorn? "warn"> "worn")
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> header -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Neal Whitman
>> Subject: All 40 USA English phonemes (Was Re: Eggcorn? "warn"> "worn")
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I think a phoneme is missing. Am I wrong? Dang, I know it's something;
>> it's
>> on the tip of my tongue.
>>
>> Neal
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tom Zurinskas"
>> To:
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 2:54 PM
>> Subject: Re: Eggcorn? "warn"> "worn"
>>
>>
>>> Here's a good sentence to use that I made up containing all 40 USA
>>> English
>>> phonemes.
>>>
>>> That quick beige fox jumped in the air over each thin dog. Look out, I
>>> shout, for he's foiled you again.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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