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From: ellis@spar.UUCP (Michael Ellis)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Easy languages (number of vowels: English vs. Esperanto)
Message-ID: <730@spar.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 31-Dec-85 05:29:44 EST
Article-I.D.: spar.730
Posted: Tue Dec 31 05:29:44 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 1-Jan-86 04:28:11 EST
References: <1791@uwmacc.UUCP> <839@h-sc1.UUCP> <1809@uwmacc.UUCP>
Reply-To: ellis@spar.UUCP (Michael Ellis)
Organization: Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, CA
Lines: 64

> = Neal McBurnett

>> English has 7 vowels and 7 diphthongs
>
>There are certainly many ways of counting, but I think it is closer
>to 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs, at least with my accent:
>	bean, bin, Ben, ban, bun, barn, Bonn, born, burn, boon, good, banana
>	say, no, fly, how, fear, care, poor.

    There are indeed many ways of counting. I'd arrange those words
    according to their vowels as below:
    
        pure    +y     +w    +r
    
    i	bin     bean   -     *beer
    e   Ben     say    -      care
    ae  ban	-      how    -
    aa  bun     -      -     (burn)
    ao +bond    fly    -      barn
    o  +pawn   *boy    no     born
    u   good    -      boon   poor
    
Notes:
    (+) `Bonn', as a German name, is pronounced in a variety of ways, 
        sometimes more like `pawn', other times more like `bond'. These
	are clearly two different phonemes in most English speech I hear.
	Some minimal pairs: tot/taut, bottom/bought'em, are/or, doll/tall
    (*) `boy' and `beer' seem to be omitted in your list.
    (1) Due to ascii lossage, the digraphs /ae,aa,ao/ are employed here
        to represent `pure' vocalic sounds in most english I have heard.
    (2) /ur/ (usually spelled `oor') has dubious ontological status,
        and is often (usually?) indistinguishable from /or/. This confusion
	could be brain damage on my part.
    (3) The sounds /iy,uw,aar/ (bean,boon,burn) are arguably `pure long'
        vowels. There is no question that, if they are considered to be
	compound sounds, the preceding vowel is modified considerably
	from its pure sound.

    In most american english dialects (especially that heard on TV), 
    postvocalic /r/ (as in barn, care..) is a retroflex glide that is quite
    distinct from the preceding vowel. Should I count vowel + /r/ as
    a diphthong? If so, why stop there? Why not also count vowel + /l/
    as well? Not to mention vowel + /n,m,z,k.../?

    Anyway, if I exclude the r-compunds, I count a total of 7 vowels
    and 7 diphthongs, excluding unaccented schwa(s).
    
    If /iy,uw/ are pure vowels, the total is 9+5; adding /aar/ as pure
    and 5 r-compounds, the total is 10+10, a sum which equals your 20.
     
    British english and certain eastern american dialects differ from the
    above scheme somewhat, since the final-r's either form schwa-diphthongs,
    or result in compensatory vowel lengthening (I have heard that this is a
    later development that occurred after the colonial period).  There is
    also considerable divergence in the vowels of (pawn,pond,pan/path) from
    the dialects I am familiar with. 

    I suspect that my /ar,or/ => /a:,o:/ in your speech (whereas /ir,ur,er/
    => /i0,u0,e0/ (where /0/ represents `a' in sofa)). This would transfer
    two more r-compounds into the pure category, thus redistributing 10+10
    => 12+8, in perfect agreement with your count.  Do you have a british or
    east-coast american accent?

-michael