[lojban-beginners] Re: PodCast comments ...

[Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org>]

On Tue, Sep 20, 2005 at 04:54:59PM +0100, Colin Wright wrote:
> Briefly, I think the "podcast" (whatever that is) was brilliant.
> I downloaded the MP3 and transcript and am working through it,
> understanding the spoken lojban and repeating the words.
> 
> I have a real problem with part of it, though.  Throughout the
> letter "o" is being pronounced as the vowel sound(s) in these
> words:
> 
>     low
>     though
>     toe
>     crow
> 
> This includes, specifically, in the word "lojban".  My
> understanding from the written material is that the "o" sound
> should be a pure vowel, pronounced as in "topic" or "hot".

If you're correct, I've been mispronouncing a lot of things for some
years now.

However, this may be an accent issue.  Looking at
http://www.lojban.org/publications/level0/brochure-utf/phonol.html I
see the examples of "joke" and "note".  In my accent, these are
pronounced the same way as "low" and "crow".  On the other hand,
American (which I am) "father", as well as "top" are given as
examples of "a", not "o".  In my accent (and, I should hope, in
*most* English accents) the "o" in "top" is the same as the "o" in
"topic".  This also matches tho "o" in "hot".

So, I think you have "o" and "a" confused, or you have an accent
strikingly different from mine.

To be fair, I haven't listened to the podcast yet.

-Robin

-- 
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