Re: USAGE: Weird dialectal stuff

fortytwo@gdn.net writes:
>That's exactly like Southern American English before nasals, "pin" and
>"pen" are both /pIn/.  In this Fresno dialect, does this happen for
>*all* /I/ and /E/?  Are "pet" and "pit" homophones for him?
Here is the reply from my friend:

actually, for some strange reason, not really (Say pit and pet) the same.
it would seem to be that we should, but i tried it out and i don't think i
do.  i think it has to do with the percussive (unaspirated) "t" rather
than the muted (? right term?) "n".  i was playing with it and i think it
is that i cut the "m" short on merry/mary/marry and the "p" on pen/pin.
so with pen/pin it's almost "en" and "in" with just a touch of the "p",
but with pet/pit i actually pronounce the "p".  i wonder why... you're the
linguist, you tell me.  :-)

evan

______________

Hehe he flatters me far too much. Anyway, what do you all think? I hope he
was clear enough in his reply.

________________________________________________

It's worth the risk of burning, to have a second chance...