[lojban-beginners] Re: mp3 files: can you help?

["Marjorie Scherf" <mls1@rice.edu>]

-----Original Message-----
From: lojban-beginners-bounce@lojban.org
[mailto:lojban-beginners-bounce@lojban.org] On Behalf Of m.kornig@sondal.net
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 3:13 PM
To: lojban-beginners@lojban.org
Subject: [lojban-beginners] Re: mp3 files: can you help?

Hello everybody,

It's been an exciting moment for me: Thanks to
Hans, Matt and Matt's grilfriend (female voice)
I've heard other people speak Lojban for the
first time. A big thank you to all three of them!

Please find their 15 recordings enclosed.

I would like to comment on a few points and ask
for your advice/views:

(1) The recordings have different bandwidths:
    64kbps (Matt and his girlfriend) and 128kbps (Hans).
    Clearly, 64kbps doesn't seem to be sufficient
    for speech. Due to this technical problem Matt's
    "p" in "pa" is absent and his "c" in "ci" is
    very shrill.

    Matt, could you try to record your voices again
    using 128kbps?

(2) I'm surprised (and a bit puzzled) by the variety of
    accents. In particular:

    (2a) The length of the vowels are very different.
         Compare for instance Hans' "mu" (short) on the
         one hand and Matt's "mu" (long) on the other.
         Hans' "pa" is relatively short, too.

         Are the lengths of the five principal vowels
         in numbers meant to be different? Personally,
         I speak all vowels relatively long. But I'm
         only a starter and that may be wrong...

    (2b) Some of the speakers seem to pronounce diphthongs.
         In particular the female voice's "re", "vo" and
         "mu" sound a bit like diphthongs. Is this
         acceptable/reasonable for listening examples from
         which others would learn pronunciation?

    (2c) I'm very surprised by the sound of the vowel "e":
         Three different speakers, three different "e"s.
         Personally, I pronounce this vowel more like Matt.

         Which pronunciation is "correct"? Does it really
         matter? Would it be reasonable to have both Hans'
         and Matt's "e" next to each other as "valid"
         accents?

    (2d) I'm very much surprised by both Matt's and Hans "o"
         in "vo". They sound like the German "wo" or the French
         "eau". I thought "o" was supposed to sound like the
         Southern British English vowels in words like "four",
         "law" or "more".

         Again: which is "correct"? Does it really matter?
         Is my understanding okay? If so, should it be included?
         Is the German "wo"-sound acceptable?

I would appreciate the views of experienced Lojban speakers
on these points.

Cheers, Martin

Does anyone have suggestions on where to get a microphone for my laptop?

mu'omi'e .skaryzgik.