Relation between spelling and gestures

 

Simple for consonants, complex for vowels

 

Same vowel gesture, different spellings:

"meat" "meet" "mete" others?

 

Same spelling, different gestures:

"woman" "women" "wombat "wonder "womb" "won't"

Dialect Variation

 

Regional dialects of English vary considerably in the vowel gestures used to produce the same word:

British and American vowels have a number of differences (See discussion in Ladefoged)

But also differences among American dialects, e.g.:

Vowel in words "Pat" can be produced in one dialect (Wisconsin, "Northern Cities") with the similar gesture to words like "pet" or even "pit" elsewhere.

"Block" can produced in some areas (e.g., Chicago) with the same gestures as the world "black" elsewhere.

Links to dialect variation

 

Back to Vowels