Re: OT: YAEPT: English low vowels (was briefly: Re: Y/N variants (< OT: English a...

> [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On Behalf Of Daniel
Prohaska


> I think I've heard some North American English speakers
> pronounce the [l] in
> <palm> and <calm>. Can anyone confirm this? Is this a reading
> pronunciation?
Yes, it's true.  My own speech does this but there is a wide
variation depending on how fast, or how casual the speech is.
The /l/ may darken, or even drop.  The big exception  in this
class that doesn't seem to be affected is "talk" which is [tAk]
in my 'lect, and I know of nobody that pronounces the <l>.