Re: The [a] sound...
Dr Maggie Hellstrom, Lund 
Mon, 16 Mar 1998 16:54:55 +0100 (MET)

Rob wrote:
> The [a] in Bach, occurs just a little bit higher and further back in
> the throat, and you're right it does seem like a small difference.

Maybe, but I have French colleagues who would pronounce "patte" as pa-teu, with 
the major stress on the first syllable, and the [eu] in 'teu' more or less 
rhyming with the English word "purse". When they do that, the [a] sound in 
"patte" comes out just like the [a] in the German "Bach" (which, incidentally, 
is not only the family name of a line of famous baroque composers, but also 
means "brook" in English.)

Saul asked:
> Hmm. Would you say that the first syllable in "patte" is a near-rhyme
> with British "part" (the latter being longer, of course)? There's less
> room for the tongue to manuever when low, so the differences are
> smaller, and I'm not sure I've ever sorted out the different As
> completely...

After trying to say all these words out loud (and completely convincing my 
colleagues of my insanity ;-), I am now more confused than ever... I think I am  
pronouncing the [a] sounds in "patte" and "part" with the toungue more or less 
in the same place, and with the rest of the mouth shaped the same, but I can't 
be sure... Since I was taught British pronounciation in school, and later 
studied French, I'm reasonably sure I know what I'm talking about, but it's been 
a while... (Now I speak and write mid-west American, that's what 2,5 years in 
the States did to me... ;-) 

The need for ,wav-files defining the pronounciation is becoming more obvious 
with each day...

Maggie
----------------------------------------------------
"Write with the learned, pronounce with the vulgar."
-- Benjamin Franklin, _Poor Richard's Almanac_