Sressed vowels

STRUT

In STRUT there is a marked tendency to a vowel raised and centralized compared with RP , even to the extent that [ə]  is a common variant. There is also variation in unstressed syllables between  and [ə]. Wells (1982: 380) speaks of the “STRUT-Schwa Merger” in Welsh English, that is to say, the lack of phonemic distinction between  and /ə/ . Parry (1999: 15) opts for  as the phonemic designation for STRUT vowels (rather than /ə/ ), which can be justified on grounds of frequency of occurrence, but he adds the rider that  in his STRUT group is “most commonly a raised and centralized Cardinal Vowel 14”. The Welsh language has no  phoneme, but it does have /ə/ , and this may be behind both the centralizing tendency in STRUT and the blurring or even erasing of distinction between  and /ə/ . In addition, it should be noted that occasionally the realization of the STRUT vowel strays into [a]  territory, as recorded in Parry (1999: 15) in butter, furrow, uncle. These instances are few and are mainly restricted to the north and mid Wales border with England.

Also,  can occur in STRUT words, and is recorded, interestingly, in the north-east corner and the south-west corner. The north-east occurrences can be readily explained by the presence of the well-known northern English   in STRUT in neighboring Cheshire. The south-west occurrences, mainly in south Pembrokeshire, an area subject to anglicizing influences since the twelfth century, are more mysterious. One could presume that they result from historical connections with south-west England, but as Parry (1999: 18) points out, there is only a small amount of evidence of  in STRUT words in the traditional accents of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

مواضيع ذات صلة

Spelling and Pronunciation SUMMARY

American English vs. British English

Morphological Basis of English Spelling

Phoneme–Grapheme Correspondences in English Vowels

Phoneme–Grapheme Correspondences in English Consonants

Spelling and Pronunciation Irregularity of English Spelling

Structural Factors in Second Language Phonology SUMMARY

Perception

Optimality Theory (OT)

Ontogeny Phylogeny Model (OPM)

Markedness

Hypercontrast