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

[Tom Zurinskas]

I can't show that finger ~feenger and singer ~seenger don't rhyme in truespel notation.  I would actually say they do rhyme close enough.  Why don't they rhyme?

In m-w.com I listen to "singer" and the "g" is suppressed

Main Entry: 1sing·er
Pronunciation: \ˈsiŋ-ər\

I listen to "finger" and the "g" is not suppressed

Main Entry: 1fin·ger
Pronunciation: \ˈfiŋ-gər\

If I reverse the "g" suppression would any words be misunderstood?  I think not.  Would "singer" be mispronounced if the "g" were not suppressed?  I think not.  Is this a big deal?  I think not.  Would an English teacher need to say for a list of all "inger" words that "singer" is different?  Why bother?  And for other affixes like "ing" does not the "g" then get pronounced as in "singin' in the rain"?


finger
linger
dinger
singer
winger
stinger

Do these rhyme?

Perhaps "singer" with the "s" said so far forward in the mouth, the tongue doesn't care to go so far back for that "g" so it elides it a bit.  It allophonics.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com





----------------------------------------
> Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:16:25 -0500
> From: db.list at PMPKN.NET
> Subject: Re: 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: David Bowie
> Subject: Re: All 40 USA English phonemes (Was Re: Eggcorn? "warn">
> "worn")
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From: Neal Whitman
>
>> Ah, of course, the supposed [g] at the end of "sing". I knew there was a
>> piece of Tom's reasoning I was forgetting. I should have waited for Larry's
>> reminder to come through before I sent my message asking about
>> "sin/seen/sing". Sorry.
>
> I still don't understand how you get across that and
> don't rhyme in Tom's system, since it's supposed to be a phonetic
> system, which means that rhyming words should end the same, if i
> understand it correctly. (I mean, *historically* the [g] was in both of
> them, but it certainly isn't there in both of them any more.)
>
> --
> David Bowie University of Central Florida
> Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
> house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
> chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect.
http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_AE_Faster_022009

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org