Date:  Sat, 5 Mar 1994 08:26:24 -0600

From:  Natalie Maynor <maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU>

Subject: Re: /lIngwIstIks/



> I say /lI/ before the velar nasal. Years ago I used to fight with

> students who transcribed /i/ instead of /i/ in -ing constructions.

> They insisted they said /i/.



Ah memories. Way back when I was first introduced to transcription,

my transcription of "linguistics" on a test was marked wrong (the

transcription was of our own speech, btw, not of somebody else's).

Not usually one to protest a teacher's judgment, I did go up after

class to inquire about that one since I thought surely it was just

a careless mistake on his part -- that nobody could really have [I]

instead of [i] in that first syllable. I still can't manage to make

my vocal apparatus come out with an [I] there.

  --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)