Re: phonetic irregularity

[C.J.Fine@BRADFORD.AC.UK]

> From: William Stuart-smith <wil@UK.CO.COMPULINK.CIX>

>
> lojbab:
> > The Lojban 'o' is intended to be a pure vowel, and not the diphthong
> > of "doe".
>
> >From lojban/pronounc.unf:
> >  uo /wo/ as in "woe"
>
> I find these mutually inconsistent. Where I come from, the words rhyme ('dyu'
> and 'uyu' respectively, if I have these vowels right), and I can't imagine
> them sounding as different as you (lojbab) imply.
>
> uil
>

At least part of the problem is pe'i British versus American. When Chris
Dollin first introduced me to Loglan in about 1978, he pronounced the
word 'gotso' (= lojban 'klama') approximately /gyutsyu/ just as Wil says.
This is the problem of trying to convey phonetics by using (one dialect)
of a widespread language. (I spent years mispronouncing Finnish because
Eliot's grammar said that a" was pronounced like a in English 'hat' and
I had forgotten that the former received pronunciation (now definitely
marked as old-fashioned or aristocratic) was a definitely fronted low vowel
rather than the mid-front low vowel that is now the normal southern English
pronunciation).

Received English pronunciation of /o:/ is indeed diphthongal /@u/ (lojban
/yu/), but most American pronunciation is either monophthongal, or if it
is diphthongal the first element is a definitely rounded /o/. If it will
help, Wil, think of an Irish pronunciation of 'doe' - though even that
may have a hint of a diphthong /ou/.

        Colin