Date:  Sat, 17 Dec 1994 17:12:42 -0600

From:  "Timothy C. Frazer" <mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU>

Subject: Re: /biyl/



This was a fascinating post and I want to say more, but first:

David, what does typographic "&" represent?

--Tim Frazer



On Thu, 15 Dec 1994, David A. Johns wrote:



> Here in southeast Georgia I get a lot of spelling mistakes of the type

> FEEL <--> FILL and SALE <--> SELL. But these pronunciations are mixed

> up with at least three other phenomena.

>

> First, breaking. As far as I can tell, /I/ and /E/ always break in

> word-final stressed syllables, and when they do, the first part of the

> diphthong is higher and tense: [ij[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]] and [ej[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]]. But before consonants

> other than /l/, there is no merger, since /i/ and /e/ are lowered and

> strongly diphthongized: /i/ --> [ej] and /e/ --> [&j] (where [&] is

> [a_e]). So we get BIT [bij[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]t] but BEET [bejt].

>

> Second, vocalization of /l/. Syllable-final /l/ is strongly vocalized

> as [w] or [u], often with no velarization that I can hear. All front

> vowels, tense or lax, get an intrusive [j] before this segment [*],

> and before this [j], /i/ and /e/ are not lowered, but fall together

> with /I/ and /E/. So BILL and BEALE are both /biju/.

>

>     [*] The back vowels /u/ and /o/ are normally strongly fronted

>     and diphthongized, but before an /l/ the remain back. So for

>     FOOL and FOAL I hear [fuw] and [fow], with no fronting. This

>     contributes to a bewildering number of very similar vowels --

>     I'm not at all sure how many distinctions there are in the

>     series COOL, (MINIS)CULE, KILL, KEEL. It could be two, three,

>     or four. And then we throw in the pronunciation of /O/ as

>     /Ow/ or /aw/ and of /oj/ as /o[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/ ...

>

>     One more note: /aw/ often breaks into /&ju/, but not in the

>     same environments as the front vowel breaking -- I often hear

>     HOW [h&ju] and DOWN [d&jun], but never OUT [&jut] (but PIT

>     [pij[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]t]). It's possible that /aw/ -> /[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]w/ -> [[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ju] has merged

>     with /&l/ -> /&ju/ in some environments (e.g., HAL and HOW

>     both [h&ju]).

>

> Third, there is a really noticeable raising of /I/ and /E/ even in

> non-breaking, non-L syllables. I consistently hear BETTY as BEATTY,

> THANKSGIVING as THANKSGEEVING, etc. But again, in these contexts

> there is no merger, because of the lowering of the tense vowels.

>

> If you want vowels, come to South Georgia!

>

> David Johns

> Waycross College

> Waycross, GA

>