Is it just me?

Juan   Monday, June 21, 2004, 00:14 GMT
TABLE = teib..l MY PRONUNCIATION----->teibo:l
" BLE => BALL

TARGET = ta:g..t MY PRONUNCIATION--->ta:get
" GET=> GET
Jim   Monday, June 21, 2004, 00:23 GMT
I'm afraid it may just be you. P.S. "table" would be /'tei-b.l/ i.e. stress on the first syllable, /-/ is a syllable division & /.l/ is a syllabic consonant.

http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CALD&key=80929&ph=on
http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org/help/phonetics.htm
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-ascii.htm
Juan   Monday, June 21, 2004, 00:34 GMT
Jim,

Thanks for responding, after all I did make you mad since our last exchange.

<<"table" would be /'tei-b.l/ i.e. stress on the first syllable, /-/ is a syllable division>>

That's not point I was trying to get across.

My query is more to do with the second syllable of the word TABLE ----> BLE
To me it sounds like bo:ll and I know it's suppose to be b..l

The same with the word TARGET-----> GET
To me it sounds like get and I know it's suppose to be g..t
Jim   Monday, June 21, 2004, 01:18 GMT
Juan,

No worries, that's all in the past. I don't know how the words could sound like that to you. Certainly to me /teibo:l/ would sound very strange for "table". I can't say I've ever heard anyone saying it like that. "Target" pronounced as /ta:get/ wouldn't sound quite as strange but still strange enough: it would sound over-pronounced. Perhaps your ears just need a little tuning: getting used to these unstressed vowels and syllabic consonants.

By the way, what I was trying to point out with /'tei-b.l/ is that it's not /'tei-b..l/: there's a subtle difference. What /..l/ indicates is /../ followed by /l/ but /.l/ is a syllabic consonant. Phonetically it's a consonant but it's acting as a vowel in this word. If you look at the dictionary link (first of the three links posted above), you'll see a little dot under the "l" this is equivalent to Antimoon's /.l/. However, /..l/ is pretty close to /.l/ so it might not be worth getting too excited over.
Juan   Tuesday, June 22, 2004, 15:00 GMT
Daymn, I got it now. Never knew about syllabic consonants so I didn't really what you were on about but now I do obviously.