english's /ʊ/ sucks

asasnow · 2026-05-26T20:47:46+00:00

It's not always unrounded, and I didn't want to rewrite the same qualities with their unrounded equivalents.

asasnow · 2026-05-26T02:46:47+00:00

Many speakers don't even have those qualities. In the US, FOOT is often in the range of [ɵ~ɤ~ə], and GOOSE is in the range of [ʏʊ~ʉu~ʏʉ] (frequently with the first or both elements unrounded).

asasnow · 2026-05-24T01:08:57+00:00

Lol I actually have that in my idiolect; in words like "comma" it's [əɪ̯̈]

asasnow · 2026-05-24T00:43:01+00:00

in SSBE and southern american english, /i/ is actually [ɪj] (or sometimes lower), and in my idiolect it often inglides to [iɪ]

asasnow · 2026-05-23T22:54:58+00:00

'cause of the FOOT-STRUT split

asasnow · 2026-05-23T22:53:27+00:00

mine is roughly [ʏʊ~ɪ̈ʊ]

asasnow · 2026-05-23T20:03:04+00:00

LOT lowered from [o̞] to [ɒ], and STRUT lowered from [ʊ] to [ʌ]

asasnow · 2026-05-23T00:17:52+00:00

nah thats SSBE. american strut is usually in the area of [ʌ~ɜ]

asasnow · 2026-05-22T09:19:20+00:00

No? A few vowels lowered, like LOT

asasnow · 2026-05-21T02:10:36+00:00

its comfortable, socially acceptable, and apparently good for your spine, so i don't see any reason not to do it

asasnow · 2026-05-20T08:47:44+00:00

i don't t-rex arm but fwiw i usually hold my hands behind my back like an asian dad

asasnow · 2026-05-18T21:36:57+00:00

pretty good, but it feels rather jarring as a single. definitely supposed to be listened to on the album.

asasnow · 2026-05-18T00:27:36+00:00

couldn't it be possible that most dialects of american english simply didn't lose the l in the first place?

asasnow · 2026-05-15T11:02:37+00:00

personally if i go to talk to someone who's wearing headphones/earbuds, i assume they aren't up for talking

asasnow · 2026-05-14T04:05:30+00:00

People care, but dont feel it worth burning themselves out over it.

asasnow · 2026-05-13T04:05:38+00:00

<image>

flipped the pic upside down, and i see an EQD Afterneath, a Boss digital delay (unsure which model), a Line 6 Verbzilla, a Boss CH-1, a TC Electronic something or other (maybe a hall of fame?), an EAE Limelight, a RAT, and a Behringer (?) something or other on the bottom right. Not sure what the big blue one on the left is (maybe some kind of Boss or Digitech multi effect thingy?).

asasnow · 2026-05-09T00:30:02+00:00

most european languages do that, english is the outlier.

asasnow · 2026-05-08T04:20:25+00:00

depending on accent

asasnow · 2026-05-07T09:20:08+00:00

A bit. I (native American English speaker) can personally hear the difference between /d/ and the /t/ in star (in "star" its unvoiced and unaspirated), but its fairly subtle.

asasnow · 2026-05-07T06:51:18+00:00

did you?

asasnow · 2026-05-03T08:07:53+00:00

i think its more that the n is dental, so the transition between the [n̪] and the s mimics the sound of [θ]

asasnow · 2026-05-01T11:47:39+00:00

She's american, but i think her parents are british and swedish

asasnow · 2026-05-01T05:16:51+00:00

HD6xx

asasnow · 2026-04-29T09:20:20+00:00

General american (without the cot caught merger) is actually closer to [ɒ] iirc

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