Monday, 24 November 2014

Ms Eleanor Maier (was 'uneasy listening') #4

Listen to the word smoking in this extract from Ms Maier's talk about the new verb to vape. She says:
[...] adopted both to circumvent smoking bans [...]

 In a narrow transcription the diphthong would look something like this: [ɛ̝ʉ]

5 comments:

  1. The expected GOAT pronunciation for her her accent is [aʊ], i.e. the same as RP MOUTH. My mind is pre-tuned to hearing [aʊ] here, so I wouldn't care to attempt a narrower transcription.

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  2. I think I also hear |ʏ| for the second element; a realisation which is apparently becoming increasingly common.

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    1. Mmmh - you have a point there. I think I have to change my transcription.

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  3. To me it almost sounds like the nonce word *smaking. The first element sounds closer to [e] than [ɛ] to me. I would transcribe the diphthong [e̞ɨ].

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    1. As to a transcription for Ms Maier’s version of the word ‘smoking’ as quoted, I have much the same reaction as the commenter who suggested that it sounds quite like ‘smaking’. So I’d be inclined to give it as [ë̞ɪ] which wd suggest that it’s all rather centralised and that no rounding is involved. This variant of the phoneme’s articulation has been around for a couple of generations and tends to suggest CGB ie Conspicuous General British for which an unsophisticated term wd be ‘posh’. It’s praps becoming rather old-fashioned now.

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