Wedge and schwa

[Tom Zurinskas]

~!Thair Ie drau thu lien.  Paetrunij uv thu Beetoolz kan due noe raung.~!

The problem with the word "singer" is that if the "i" is short, like every dictionary says, and the "g" is suppressed, then the "n" would tend to go alveolar, and the word would sound like "sinner" not "singer". By shaowing that the "n" is velar /N/ it does change the pronunciation by including a "velar dwell" shall we say, which works like a "g" but isn't a real ~g.

But in reality what is really said as I hear it in US and UK English is ~seenger, with long e, velar n, and suppressed g (I don't suppress the g nor apparently do the Beatles).  (I don't know why it's suppressed in certain words and not others.)

The mechanics as I intuit it is that the mind looks ahead in pronunciation.  It knows what it wants to say, and the mouth is practically authomatic in how it does it.   The word "singer" has a "g" preceeded by "n."  The mind figures out that the "n" before the "g" is easiest said as a velar to get to the "g" which is velar, which raises the tongue, and in anticipation of that "n" the short i gets "raised" to long e ~ee.

I and other linguist ~leengwists tell me that they are hearing this.  I believe long e should be taken as reality in "ing/k".  Velar n can be explained by rule in a simple notation as preceding g or k in the same syllable.  It's really allophonic.

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













----------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 12:12:25 -0400
> From: bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
> Subject: Re: Wedge and schwa
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
> Subject: Re: Wedge and schwa
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>
>> Meanwhile, I went to hear a Beatle tribute band. They spoke with British
>> accents. The words "just" and "us" were said ~joost and ~oos, with short oo
>> as in "good" ~good.
>
> I should hope so! And I should also hope that they used [g] after [N] in the
> Liverpudlian fashion. Thus, if they were covering "Old Brown Shoe," the rhyme
> would be maintained in the lines, "If I grow up I'll be a singer / Wearing
> rings on every finger." (Perhaps your patronage of Beatles tribute bands helps
> explain the peculiar treatment of [N] in truespel?)
>
> More here, if you care:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_dialect_and_accent
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™ Groups: Create an online spot for your favorite groups to meet.
http://windowslive.com/online/groups?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_groups_032009

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