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Joined: 25 Sep 2009
Posts: 2
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 Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:05 pm
Post subject: IPA representation of bank, tank and thank |
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Are dictionaries incorrectly representing the pronounciation of bank, tank and thank by using æ instead of ɛ?
The dictionary shows /bæŋk/, but I hear /bɛŋk/ |
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ablythGood Linguist 
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 33
Location: Japan |
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:55 am
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| Which dictionaries and which accents do you hear? I'm pretty sure that the American and Australian dictionaries will represent their local pronunciations, as will Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries, actually RP pronunciation I believe (might be wrong). So, what read in dictionaries and what you hear are different, but both correct. |
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Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Posts: 681
Location: New Brunswick, NJ |
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:53 pm
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| I definitely have the lower [+ATR] vowel, not a [-ATR] mid vowel (I'm a speaker of Standard American English). Midwestern accents often have the latter rather than the former. |
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Joined: 05 Feb 2010
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Location: U.S. |
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 10:53 pm
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I definitely hear [æ] in those words, and not [ɛ]. Could be a regional difference.
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LexiconTop-Notch Linguist 
Joined: 25 Feb 2007
Posts: 143
Location: New Orleans |
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:27 pm
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Are you sure you are hearing ash /æ/ in those words?
That would mean your a in bank and thank rhymes with (well ash) and cash, and apple, and tattle.
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There's no such thing as an exception to the rule...that's just another way of saying "we haven't figured out the rules yet!" |
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CoryboboryChomsky 
Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Posts: 698
Location: London, UK (formerly Vancouver, Canada) |
Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:51 am
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[ɛ] is closer to what I would say, but I do have funny Canadian vowels 
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BA Linguistics, Simon Fraser University
MSc Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology, University College London
"No conceit could be worse than a belief in one's own intrinsic objectivity, no prescription more suited to the exposure of fools." |
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Joined: 05 Feb 2010
Posts: 13
Location: U.S. |
Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:52 am
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Lexicon wrote:
Are you sure you are hearing ash /æ/ in those words?
That would mean your a in bank and thank rhymes with (well ash) and cash, and apple, and tattle.
Hm...I don't hear the same /æ/ as in apple but I also don't hear the same /ɛ/ as in bent.
Maybe it's a nasalized /æ/ we're hearing.
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LexiconTop-Notch Linguist
Joined: 25 Feb 2007
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Location: New Orleans |
Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 12:15 pm
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Am I alone in thinking that thank and bank have the vowel /e/ in them?
/beŋk/ makes more sense to me than /bæŋk/ or /bɛŋk/
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There's no such thing as an exception to the rule...that's just another way of saying "we haven't figured out the rules yet!" |
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Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Posts: 681
Location: New Brunswick, NJ |
Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 12:02 pm
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| For me the underlying form is most certainly /bæŋk/. When I pause in the middle of the word, the vowel quality does sound more like ɛ or e, presumably due to pre-velar raising. |
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Joined: 08 Apr 2009
Posts: 66
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:30 am
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I'm fairly sure that Lexicon is right in that "bank" and the rest of the word pairings do not have the /ae/ vowel, or "ash", and does have the /e/ vowel, except that the /e/ is nasalized. I almost hear /eI/, like in "hate", but the "almost" description indicates to me that it's /e/.
Check this out, it's fun and super helpful to distinguish sounds on the spot.
http://wso.williams.edu/~jdowse/ipa.html |
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