LINGUIST List 13.2097

Thu Aug 15 2002

Disc: Tense and Lax i

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Roger Lass, Re: 13.2084, Disc: Tense and Lax i

Message 1: Re: 13.2084, Disc: Tense and Lax i

Re Linguist 13.2084

As a New York speaker myself, I might observe that /I/ is somewhat
more centralised than in many other dialects (there is no difference
in sin/sing). But perhaps more to the point, the 'velars' in my
dialect at least are somewhat retracted even after front vowels, and
slightly uvular, i.e. there is not as much raising of the tongue body
as in many other more westerly varieties.

It might be worth being rather detailed in discussions like this, and
not just dissecting vowel quality 'before velars', but looking at what
kind of velars one is dealing with. There is quite a large range, in
terms of both back/front location and degree of raising of the dorsum
that English speakers in general would be willing to accept as
'velar', but which are phonetically different enough to produce quite
different patterns of vowel allophony before them.

RL