pron. of just

[Tom Zurinskas]

These 5 words are from m-w.com.  There is a schwa in each that the speaker pronounces as a different phoneme.  That's at least 5 different sounds for one symbol.  (because m-w.com uses special symbols, the schwa sign may not come out).

her = \(h)ər, ˈhər\  I hear the ~er phoneme
but = \ˈbət\       I hear the ~u phoneme
local = \ˈlō-kəl\   I hear the ~oo phoneme
flaccid  = \ˈfla-səd also ˈflak-səd\   I hear the ~i phoneme
forehead =  \ˈfär-əd, ˈfȯr-; ˈfȯr-ˌhed also -ˌed\  I hear the ~e phoneme

Note.  I've never heard flaccid pronounced ~flaksid, nor forehead pronounced ~faared.  Anyone else?

Clearly schwa stands for many sounds.

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





----------------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:37:20 -0600
> From: gordonmj at MISSOURI.EDU
> Subject: Re: pron. of just
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Matthew Gordon
> Subject: Re: pron. of just
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I suppose that like Humpty Dumpty you're free to have words mean just what
> you choose them to mean, but in phonetics schwa is the name of a particular
> symbol that describes one particular sound and this is how M-W use it in
> their notation. Some transcription systems distinguish between the stressed
> and unstressed vowel in "abut" - using schwa for the first and wedge (^) for
> the second - but I've always taken this to be principally a phonemic issue
> with little phonetic difference involved for many Americans' pronunciations.
> M-W clearly sided with the phonetic evidence on this, or maybe they have
> something against wedges.
>
>
> On 2/27/09 1:59 PM, "Tom Zurinskas" wrote:
>
>> Schwa stands for lots of sounds for most notations. Take "dirigible" as
>> pronounced and foespeld in m-w.com,
>> di·ri·gi·ble Pronunciation:\ˈdir-ə-jə-bəl, də-ˈri-jə-\
>> There are three schwas here, non having the "uh" sound. (if the copy/paste
>> comes out.)
>>
>> When the second "i" was stressed above it was spelled as a short i, but when
>> not stressed it was spelled as a schwa. Why should stress change the notation
>> of the same sound? The last syllable has a schwa but is pronounced as in bull
>> ~bool not "uh".
>>
>> Schwa is a catch all for unstressed vowels. It often stands for short i,
>> short u, short oo and others. A stressed vowel should never be foespeld a
>> schwa. In fact any notation that uses schwa is not as accurate as truespel
>> which spells them all out.
>>
>>
>> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>> see truespel.com
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
>>> Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:25:00 -0600
>>> From: gordonmj at MISSOURI.EDU
>>> Subject: pron. of just
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Matthew Gordon
>>> Subject: pron. of just
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> --
>>>
>>> The first pronunciation of 'just' listed by m-w.com is /j at st/ where /@/=
>>> schwa. I think most of us would argue that this IS the usual pronunciation
>>> of adj. 'just' and even of adv. 'just' at least when it bears some stress in
>>> a sentence. They use a schwa there b/c that's the usual phonetic symbol for
>>> this sound (or one of them anyway).
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/27/09 1:00 PM, "Tom Zurinskas" wrote:
>>>> ... I don't think anyone would argue that the
>>>> first pronunciation of "just" by m-w.com is usual. It's a solid short u. Why
>>>> m-w.com uses a schwa there I'll never know. Unfortunately, for all short u's
>>>> they use \ \ as u in abut, (an upside down "e" that apparently won't copy
>>>> paste) . Very very unfortunate notation. Everyone understands using a letter
>>>> "u" for the "uh" sound.
>>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Windows Liveâ„¢: Discover 10 secrets about the new Windows Live.
>> http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F
>> 681DAD532637!7540.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_ugc_post_022009
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™: Discover 10 secrets about the new Windows Live.
http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!7540.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_ugc_post_022009

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