The wedge /ʌ/ sound

Question

Is the wedge /?/ sound an allophone of letter /a/ or a different sound please?

Philip · Accepted Answer

It is a different sound:  ****, some, mother, dull, must.

Fivejedjon · Answer

What do you man by 'the letter /a/'?

There is the letter A, also written a/?, the IPA cardinal vowel sounds [a] and [?] and secondary vowel [?], and the (Southern) British English phonemes /æ/ (as in cat), /?:/ (as in cart), /e?/ (as in Kate) and /?/ (as in cut).

The four British English vowels I have coloured red are different phonemes. For most speakers, /æ/ is fairly close to Cardinal [a], /?:/to Cardinal [?], /e?/ is a glide from somewhere between Cardinals [e] and [?] to a ccentralised vowel[e¨], and is close to [?].

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousIs the wedge /?/ sound an allophone of letter /a/ or a different sound please?

I think you mean:

Is [ ? ] an allophone of the phoneme / a /?

No it isn't. At least I don't believe it ever is in American English. I can't think of any examples where that happens.

Or you might mean:

Is the written letter "a" ever pronounced as [ ? ]?

Yes. In fact, that's how the word "a" is usually pronounced.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

fivejedjonWhat do you man by 'the letter /a/'?There is the letter A, also written a/?, the IPA cardinal vowel sounds [a] and [?] and secondary vowel [?], and the (Southern) British English phonemes /æ/ (as in cat), /?:/ (as in cart), /e?/ (as in Kate) and /?/ (as in cut).

I mean by letter /A/. What do you mean by secondary vowel [?]
please.

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimI think you mean:Is [ ? ] an allophone of the phoneme / a /?No it isn't. At least I don't believe it ever is in American English. I can't think of any examples where that happens.Or you might mean:Is the written letter "a" ever pronounced as [ ? ]?Yes. In fact, that's how the word "a" is usually pronounced.

Yes, I meant: Is [ ? ] an allophone of phoneme /A/, also written a/?.

Fivejedjon · Answer

Anon, your last two responses have confused the issue.

Letters of the Alphabet can be written A, A, A or 'A'. They do not have square brackets, [] ,or slashes, // ,round them.

Sounds recognised by the International Phonetic Association as distinctive are allocated signs which are generally placed inside square brackets. The secondary vowel [ ? ] is one of these.

The individual phonemes of a language variety are allocated symbols (usually the same as IPA symbols for similar sounds. which are generally placed inside slashes.

You can hear the IPA sounds here.

Anonymous · Answer

To be technically correct i meant the letter 'A'.
I know the vowel [ ? ] is one of the sounds recognised by the IPA but why is it called secondary.

Fivejedjon · Answer

AnonymousI know the vowel [ ? ] is one of the sounds recognised by the IPA but why is it called secondary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DanielJones(phonetician)suggested eight (primary) cardinal vowels spaced evenly round the vowel area of the mouth to act as fixed points for phoneticians to place other vowels. Once these cardinal vowels had been identified, eight more vowel sounds were proposed, located in the same places as th cardinal vowels, but with an opposite amount of rounding of the lips. These became known as secondary cardinal vowels.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for your explanation.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousYes, I meant: Is [ ? ] an allophone of phoneme /A/, also written a/?.

Your best bet is to use quotes when referring to letters. You see letters. You hear phones. You can't hear letters or phonemes.

Letters: "A" or 'A' or "a" or 'a'; "B" or 'B', etc.
Phonemes: /a/, /t/, /n/, etc.
Phones: [a], [?], , etc.

A phoneme is an abstraction. It represents any and all phones that count as "the same sound" within a given language. For example, in English we make no meaning difference between aspirated and unaspirated "T"s. So whether you hear [t'] or [t], it's still a /t/. The phones [t'] and [t] are said to be allophones (the actual heard sounds) of the abstraction called the phoneme /t/, which you can't hear until it is realized in speech as one of its allophones. The phoneme represents all its allophones.

CJ

The wedge /ʌ/ sound

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