> > On Wed, 29 Oct 2003, John Klein wrote: > > #I actually had a similar discussion with a friend recently about 'fairy' > > #and 'ferry'. This was particularly disconcerting because: > > # > > #b) He claimed I pronounced them differently despite not being aware of any > > # difference. > > > Mark A. Mandel said: > > This is known to happen. William Labov, who is damn' near the father of > > variation studies (and who's right here at Penn, and giving a talk > > tomorrow that I may have to miss, dammit!) was IIRC the first to show > > it. > > On a related note (ahem:), when I was studying operatic singing, > I was amazed at how the slightest change in the tension of > the vocal chords, the placement of the soft pallete<sp>, the > movement of the tongue, and other physical actions could alter, > very slightly, the sound of vowels. When singing an "Ah", > it is very easy for the sound to change and become more > of an "Uh", or somewhere in between. > > Of course, it was a pain in the neck to listen closely to my own vowels > and correct them, not hearing much of a difference and having to rely > on subtle physical alterations. Frustrating? You bet! <grin> > For the record, I pronounce "Don" and "dawn" quite differently, but "ferry" and "fairy" the same, as far as I can tell. And speaking of records, what you reminded me of was when I was doing my CD, "A Rose for Iconoclastes." The tune "She's Gone" was making me crazy. We had down the entire vocal track, except that every single time I reached for the high note (The first and third "She's gone" in each chorus) I missed it. Eventually, Sara Diedrich, who was doing the vocal coaching for me and who is also opera trained, leaned into the talkback mic and said, "Don't sing 'She's gone.' Sing 'She's gun.'" I did, and not only did I nail the note, but it *sounded* like "gone" not "gun."