Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!insosf1.infonet.net!internet.spss.com!markrose
From: markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder)
Subject: Re: /I/ and /E/ (was: Adults and (second) language learning)
Message-ID: <D718JH.D6C@spss.com>
Sender: news@spss.com
Organization: SPSS Inc
References: <3lh4rh$bnu@sundog.tiac.net> <3mku4k$kqh@kaiwan.kaiwan.com> <3ml8pu$hcv@ixnews1.ix.netcom.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 16:02:04 GMT
Lines: 23

In article <3ml8pu$hcv@ixnews1.ix.netcom.com>,
ralph ambrose <birnamwd@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>As an American learning foreign languages I find that I do not pay
>close enough attention to vowel sounds of other languages.  The
>difference between "i" and "e" (especially in words such as "pen" and
>"pin") I often do not notice.  I do not think the difference in these
>vowel sounds is as important in English, particularly in certain
>regions.  However, in many other languages, the difference between
>these two sounds can mark much difference in meaning. 

This sounds backwards to me.  The difference between /E/ in 'pen' and /I/ in
'pin' is phonemic in English, as indicated by the fact that these are two
different words, with different meanings and pronunciations.  Many similar 
minimal pairs could be listed: Ben/bin, mess/miss, slept/slipped, rep/rip, 
well/will, pet/pit, medal/middle, west/whist, peck/pick, sex/six, next/nixed, 
etc.  What languages other than English make greater use of this distinction?

Quite a few languages don't make this distinction at all, and speakers
of those languages may find the English sounds difficult.  My wife, a
native Spanish speaker, provided a nice example.  We were in the car,
and she kept asking me to give her the keys, which however she pronounced
with a short i (/I/).  Until we figured out the misunderstanding she
was puzzled why I was being affectionate but not helpful.
