How do you pronounce < &#652; >?

Milton   Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:33 am GMT
From Wikipedia:

The most common realization of the vowel transcribed as < ʌ > in American English is [ɜ]: ''bust'' [bɜst] (in Ohio and most of Texas, according to Johnson) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_central_unrounded_vowel

In California (according to Ladefoged) and RP (not Estuary/Cockney) it's [ɐ]:
''nut'' [nɐt] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_central_vowel

In Newfoundland English and Philadelphia it's [ʌ]: ''plus'' [plʌs], according to Thomas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_unrounded_vowel

In Australia, it's [ä]: ''lust''[läst] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English_phonology

---from ANAE (prof. Labov)---------------------------------------------

Mean F1 of the stressed vowel in ''study, mother, bud, just by dialect'':



Pittsburgh--------------787
Eastern New England--768
RP------------------------754
Atlantic Provinces------746
Providence--------------736
Canada------------------736
Cincinnati--------------730
Western New England-728
Boston----------------- 727
St. Louis---------------726
Western Pennsylvania-725
Florida-----------------723
Middle Atlantic---------721
West--------------------712
Charleston--------------712
Inland North------------706
North-------------------701.4
Midland-----------------695
NYC---------------------692
South-------------------687
Texas South------------673
Inland South-----------664

Mean values of low vowels for 20 dialects. PI = Pittsburgh; WPA = Western Pennsylvania; CA = Canada; PR = Providence; S = Inland South; M = Midland; IN = Inland North.

What's your pronunciation (& location)?
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in California English, /a/, /ɐ/ and /ɑ/ can have [ä]like realization in rapid speech, so a foreign learner can hear ''lost, lust, last'' as [läst]...
For some Californians there's a vowel length in /ɑ/ [ä:] and short vowel in /ɐ/ [ä]:
lust [läst], lost [lä:st]; sung [säŋ], song [sä:ŋ].
Lazar   Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:35 pm GMT
<<The most common realization of the vowel transcribed as <ʌ> in American English is [ɜ]>>

That strikes me as jarring at first glance, because a truly central [ɜ] (similar to British English [ɜ:]) is characteristic of Southern US English and is definitely not standard. But neither is it a truly back [ʌ]: I think the most common realization in American English, and the one I use, is a near-back vowel in between true [ɜ] and [ʌ]. By convention I prefer to transcribe this as [ʌ], because this seems to be the overwhelmingly preferred practice, and because it enables us to make a useful backness contrast between the near-back General American [ʌ] and the central Southern US [ɜ] and RP [ɐ].
Travis   Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:52 pm GMT
Here in southeastern Wisconsin it is truly a back [ʌ] (and not even just near-back at that), at almost the same point of articulation as the [ɔ] in "core" [kʰɔːʁ] here (being just very slightly more open than it). Also, it should be noted that [ɜ] is actually a progressive realization of historical /ɛ/ here, which I myself tend to use frequently in everyday speech.
Guest   Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:54 pm GMT
Some words, like ''love'' are pronounced with [ə] ( shwa ) by many speakers.
Some phoneticians use the symbol [ ɨ ] to describe the ''just'' vowel.
NTC dictionaries prefer [ə] for ''love, but, just, hut'' vowel.
Josh Lalonde   Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:54 pm GMT
The pronunciation here (Ottawa) is similar to what Lazar describes: somewhat front of fully back, but not as far as [6] or [3]. However, there is also variable rounding here, so my normal realization is something like [o_"]. I should note that the rounding is fairly light, and depends to some extent on the following consonant. (Eg. with a following elided nasal, it tends to be unrounded and somewhat longer.)