[New-Poetry] How many vowels?

[Judy Prince]

Hi, Alan,
I haven't tried to find out if any other USAmericans hear more than one
sound for all 5 words, and I don't know if there are any UK-born and raised
folk on NP besides Robin Hamilton.

However, here's an analysis of how Robin pronounces the 5 words:

1)  "merry" sound-alike words:  "ferry"  "cherry"  "very"

2)   "Mary" and 4)  "hairy" sound-alike words:  "fairy"  "vary"
       [but "hairy" has a slightly longer first vowel sound than "Mary"]

3)  "married" and 5)  "Harry" sound-alike words:  "carry"  "tarry"
       [but "Harry" has a slightly shorter first-vowel sound than "married"]

Finally, Robin hears all the final "y"s the same, as something between a
short "i" and a short "e".  I hear them all the same and as a long "e", as
in "me" or "free".

Two questions for you, Alan:  1)  How do you hear east midlanders in the UK
saying these words?  2)  How do folk in Louisville ["LOW-uh-vill"] say them?

I love this subject!  Do any of you on this list say/hear the words
differently?

Best,

Judy


2009/2/26 Alan C Golding <acgold01 at louisville.edu>

> Merry Mary Married Hairy Harry
>
> Judy wrote: "I hear the same vowel sound in each word's first syllable, and
> it sounds like 'air' or 'pear' or 'dare'.  That's from a midwesterner, USA.
>  Do any of you USAmericans hear more than one sound?  And are there any UK-
> born and raised folk on NP besides Robin Hamilton?"
>
> My London-born and southeast-England-raised ear hears three different vowel
> sounds: merry, mary/hairy, and married/harry.  They're pretty audibly
> different where I come from.  But I can imagine hearing four from the aural
> vantage-point of Glaswegian Scots: that is, I'm imagining, Robin, that you
> hear the first syllable of "hairy" as different from that of "Mary?"
>
> Living in the U.S. South and learning from friends that "pen" and "pin,"
> "tar" and "tire" were treated as homophones when they (the friends, not the
> pins) were in school was an utter jaw-dropper for me.  Gobsmacked, I was.
>
> Now here's a question: does anyone hear differences among the final -y
> sounds?
>
> Alan
>
>
>
>
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