How NOT to write a teach-yourself grammar

[David Wake]

In English Received Pronunciation the vowel of DRESS (and of END which
is basically the same vowel, not raised or nasalized) is traditionally
transcribed as /e/.  This is arguably an anachronism today, but
traditions persist.

David


On Sep 24, 2010, at 4:44, Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: How NOT to write a teach-yourself grammar
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> On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 1:45 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> "The syllabic segment /e/, a front mid vowel, is pronounced similarly
>> to ,,, English _e_ as in _end_."
>>
>>
>> As in "*end*"?! So, it's a nasalized, lax, high front vowel. Probably
>> not really what the authors int[I]nd. And it's not possible to tell
>> whether they really have in mind "... as in _gate_ or "... as in
>> _get_." More likely the latter. But,
>
> The vowel in _gate_ (/ei/) and the vowel in _end_ (/E/) are not the
> same phoneme.  But _get_ and _end_ do share the same phoneme vowel
> /E/.
>
> Is this publication British (where there /E/ and /e/ are much closer
> than in the US)?
>
> --
> Randy Alexander
> Xiamen, China
> Blogs:
> Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
> Chinese characters: http://www.sinoglot.com/yuwen
> Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog
>
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