From cowan@xxxxx.xxxx.xxxx Sat Apr 10 15:57:46 1999 X-Digest-Num: 110 Message-ID: <44114.110.605.959273824@eGroups.com> Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 18:57:46 -0400 (EDT) From: John Cowan OK, so now I'm completely, totally and utterly lost. I'm an > Australian who is living in the UK, has lived in Lousiana, > California and New Jersey, and I can mimic many, perhaps > most pronunciations. I've been listening to the television, > both American and British programmes, and I still can't > hear how you can say that there's any similarity between > the vowels in "top" and "father." My experience with > French suggests that I have a good ear for sounds, and I > can't at all hear what you are suggesting is there. Well, listening to myself, I hear them as the same. Anyhow, the vowel of Australian "cup" or "carp" (short and long low central vowels) will do the job rather well. So will either RP or GenAm "father". So will French "a" (the vowel of "bas" not "pate" for the minority of francophones that make a difference. -- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org e'osai ko sarji la lojban.