This is something I've always wondered about. In an American dictionary the word "carver" is pronounced as CAR-v&r (The ampersand is a schwa). 'Round here we use /@/ for a schwa; /&/ is an ash. Both r's are clearly

True. But they share at least one thing in common: they're distinct. And I think they share other things in common too. For example, "ah" is never rounded; "ah" is never to the back of "aw". "Ideal" by

Waddayamean "if". Did Praat ever lie to you before? Praat never lies, It does sometimes, but it's usually easy to tell when it's doing so. When I have any doubt about the credibility of Praat formants, I superimpose formant plots

I'm an American. My "ah" is the furthest back of my low back vowels that I discuss at http://alt-usage-english.org/A vowels.html . It's unmistakably a low back vowel. Sure, but you're a CIC man. No one is denying that you

At the AUE site, there's a page headed "Pronunciation of newsgroup contributors' names". The URL is http://www.alt-usage-english.org/audio gallery/index.html When you ... the pronunciation that's given to the spelling

Having a native language other than English, I wonder what is the pronunciation of "um"? Is it the same vowel as in "put"? Or is it like in AmE "gum". Or is it just an "m"? My "um" rhymes with

(wrt "um") 'erm' Not the same sound at all for me: it's "perm" without the p. I even say both (although 'um' is more likely). Weird. Having a native language other than English, I wonder what is the

If I want you to use the vowel of your ... order to accomplish that? What would you suggest I write? Before I made a suggestion, I would want to be persuaded that there was some good reason for you to want me to use a vowel when you don't know

In my kind of talk, in the sense you mention, ... clearly, a schwa replaces the vowel. "I k'n gowith you". Do you have the "pin"/"pen" merger? (If so, where are you from?) If youdo, your "kin"

It's not as bad as that. Many, if not most people, will recognize that "ah" as the "father" vowel. But how many ways are there in the English-speaking world to pronounce "father"? I see the point of