Date:  Wed, 26 Apr 1995 10:00:56 -0400

From:  "William A. Kretzschmar, Jr." <billk[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ATLAS.UGA.EDU>

Subject: Why, and how we transcribe it



I notice in the discussion of "why" that some people claim the initial

sound as two segments and the contrast as [hw-] vs. [w], and others (as

Labov in *Prin. of LC*) as one segment with the contrast between voiced

and unvoiced consonant, [w] vs. ["turned" w]. I myself had never thought

of this as a voiced/unvoiced contrast because I always thought that the

/w/ was +voice, whether or not an initial aspirate was present. Is there

acoustic or other evidence to support one side or the other? Or is the

difference in notation simply a residue of the segmental-phonology wars of

the 50s and 60s.



Regards, Bill

******************************************************************************

Bill Kretzschmar         Phone:  706-542-2246

Dept. of English         FAX:   706-542-2181

University of Georgia      Internet: billk[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hyde.park.uga.edu

Athens, GA 30602-6205      Bitnet:  wakjengl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga