rishenhoo
New member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2018
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- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
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- China
I have some questions concerning the pronunciation of vowels in syllables, because I want to offer others more accurate phonetic notations of English words.
First, concerning (Jones-Gimson) /ɪə, ʊə/ (and their Kenyon-Knott counterpart /ɪr, ʊr/). When I heard the pronunciation of these phonemes by English speakers (especially American English speakers), they actually sound like /i:ər, u:ər/-- tense /i/ and /u/ used in these phonemes, rather than lax /ɪ/ and /ʊ/. But in textbooks I encountered, no matter British or American version, lax /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ are always used in phonetic notations. I guess that Jones-Gimson has an idea that “the length of diphthong equals to twice in length of monophthongs”, therefore the “shorter” vowels always get selected. However, nowadays we have known that the differences between “longer” and “shorter” pure vowels lies not only in the length but also in the pronunciation itself. Now I want to choose pronunciation respelling over IPA, I have to make sure: whether it is proper to transcribe them as (for example) “-eer” rather than “-ir”, to convey the “/i:ər/” sound.
Secondly, concerning the pronunciation of the letter “e” in non-stressed syllables. We have learnt that “e” has an open-syllable sound /i:/ and a closed-syllable sound /ɛ/. It doesn’t have the sound (lax) /ɪ/ as the letter “i” in (stressed) closed syllables. However, when the letter “e” occurred in non-stressed syllables I always see the lax /ɪ/ uses to represent it in IPA notations. Such an “excite” /ɪkˈsaɪt/. So I am confused by this usage. How can “e” also be pronounced like “i”? And if I choose pronunciation respelling, can I use “ee” which represents /i/ rather than /ɪ/ to stand for non-stressed “e”?
Thanks for help.
First, concerning (Jones-Gimson) /ɪə, ʊə/ (and their Kenyon-Knott counterpart /ɪr, ʊr/). When I heard the pronunciation of these phonemes by English speakers (especially American English speakers), they actually sound like /i:ər, u:ər/-- tense /i/ and /u/ used in these phonemes, rather than lax /ɪ/ and /ʊ/. But in textbooks I encountered, no matter British or American version, lax /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ are always used in phonetic notations. I guess that Jones-Gimson has an idea that “the length of diphthong equals to twice in length of monophthongs”, therefore the “shorter” vowels always get selected. However, nowadays we have known that the differences between “longer” and “shorter” pure vowels lies not only in the length but also in the pronunciation itself. Now I want to choose pronunciation respelling over IPA, I have to make sure: whether it is proper to transcribe them as (for example) “-eer” rather than “-ir”, to convey the “/i:ər/” sound.
Secondly, concerning the pronunciation of the letter “e” in non-stressed syllables. We have learnt that “e” has an open-syllable sound /i:/ and a closed-syllable sound /ɛ/. It doesn’t have the sound (lax) /ɪ/ as the letter “i” in (stressed) closed syllables. However, when the letter “e” occurred in non-stressed syllables I always see the lax /ɪ/ uses to represent it in IPA notations. Such an “excite” /ɪkˈsaɪt/. So I am confused by this usage. How can “e” also be pronounced like “i”? And if I choose pronunciation respelling, can I use “ee” which represents /i/ rather than /ɪ/ to stand for non-stressed “e”?
Thanks for help.