Re: Pronunciation ...

[Christopher Reid Palmer <reid@xxxxxxxx.xxxx]

BestATN@aol.com wrote:

> > /u/ boot, toot, flute, chute
> > /o/ top, cot, motley, monster
> > /i/ clean, green, machine
> > /e/ bet, lens, enemy
> > /a/ cat, bat, mat, dab, action
> 
> As examples of tense vowels I would agree with the linguist,

Actually, no. Those are not tense /e/s, and low vowels (at least in
English) like /a/ are underspecified for tenseness (which means that
native speakers would not consider them two different words if you
pronounced 'cat' with a tense /a/ and then a lax /a/).

For my Midwestern American English, the /o/ and /a/ above are both low
vowels, mid-back and front, respectively.


-- Chris

_____________________________________________________________________________
Christopher Reid Palmer : reid@pconline.com : http://innerfire.visi.com/