tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post7472469769755909306..comments2024-03-17T09:14:13.950+00:00Comments on John Wells’s phonetic blog: a period pieceJohn Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13684304410735867148noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-17899568230757893632009-09-14T10:00:01.707+01:002009-09-14T10:00:01.707+01:00It's a nice clip, and certainly suggests that ...It's a nice clip, and certainly suggests that Harry Enfield's observation of "Mr Cholmondley-Warner" was pretty spot-on.Chaa006https://www.blogger.com/profile/00007714578401273047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-90900889521171576252009-09-07T01:44:11.517+01:002009-09-07T01:44:11.517+01:00This is a gem! And "talk English" has al...This is a gem! And "talk English" has always been fine with me, though a (US) countryman once pounced on in it my speech. The ending is lovely - he still has his accent, but the new prosody of his question got him easily understood.Karen Chunghttp://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-11759324959620039522009-09-05T18:36:21.380+01:002009-09-05T18:36:21.380+01:00I was surprised by the use of "talk English&q...I was surprised by the use of "talk English" where I would have "speak". Is this a generational thing? U/non-U? or just me?Jens Knudsen (Sili)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14078875730565068352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-86218537071274090082009-09-04T09:57:43.005+01:002009-09-04T09:57:43.005+01:00The description on the web site concludes with the...The description on the web site concludes with the normal apotropaic formula, which you have (unconsciously?) echoed: "...the Professor seems very patronising and strident in his teaching method. His attitude might even be interpreted as racism." Might it? By whom? He looked a little stiff and nervous to me, and of course was not a professional actor. Oh, I see... if we at British Pathé 'notice' this, then we can't be accused of racism ourselves for making the clip available, can we? Political correctness poisons everything now.Graham Ashernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-6506046059794504042009-09-03T23:38:44.532+01:002009-09-03T23:38:44.532+01:00@acw: Like many British phoneticians, I write the ...@acw: Like many British phoneticians, I write the DRESS vowel as /e/. <br />I am aware that other authors, including particularly North Americans, write it /ɛ/.<br />For discussion, see http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-english-uni.htm , sections 6-7.John Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13684304410735867148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-8652361273341619052009-09-03T22:29:16.542+01:002009-09-03T22:29:16.542+01:00In your transcriptions of very and address, you...In your transcriptions of <i>very</i> and <i>address</i>, you've used [e] rather than the expected open e (which for some reason I can't type in this comment field). Did James really say "vairy", or is this a typo?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-3984040334278256632009-09-03T22:07:21.263+01:002009-09-03T22:07:21.263+01:00To be fair, he doesn't pretend to pronounce th...To be fair, he doesn't pretend to pronounce the sentence with an American accent; what he says is that if you make all the syllables long, the result is "something like American." I agree, though, that he confuses matters by conflating stress and syllable length. In his mimicry of the non-English pronunciations, he gives full stress to unstressed syllables, including the word "the" (which he pronounces as [ði(:)]).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-72569028542803328322009-09-03T16:17:16.904+01:002009-09-03T16:17:16.904+01:00Let's keep in mind he may be imitating an Amer...Let's keep in mind he may be imitating an American accent of the "posh" mid-Atlantic variety common in movies made in the 1940s.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-62730812887527338012009-09-03T16:01:58.476+01:002009-09-03T16:01:58.476+01:00Same thing here with a Frenchman, jaw and rhythm a...Same thing <a href="http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=76192" rel="nofollow">here</a> with a Frenchman, jaw and rhythm and morse: (At 5:25)Phillip Mindenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16801818752833289089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-34307710280212406162009-09-03T14:31:39.721+01:002009-09-03T14:31:39.721+01:00His impersonation of the Sri Lankan student was mu...His impersonation of the Sri Lankan student was much better than his American impersonation.<br /><br />I noticed that the vowel in "long" at 3:33 and 3:53 was longer than usual, but that might've been because he was stressing the word.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04081841460525341333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-89433985059495045042009-09-03T14:14:28.243+01:002009-09-03T14:14:28.243+01:00Rather unexpected how he explains stress as rhythm...Rather unexpected how he explains stress as rhythm, and then the latter as long vs short vowels.<br /><br />Concerning the [hjɐː], I think it fits well to the rest of his pronunciation.Phillip Mindenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16801818752833289089noreply@blogger.com