Re: English |a|

On Jan 17, 2005, at 2:50 AM, Mark J. Reed wrote:
> TM> And I thought Americans who distinguished O and AW pronounced Dog
> as
> TM> DAWG, but that might be limited to *some* Americans.
> The "dawg" pronunciation is an exaggerated example of the "Southern
> drawl", and I wouldn't say it is in general related to whether or not O
> and AW are distinguished.   Which, btw, they *aren't* in my dialect,
> really; I'd say they're allophonic variants of the same sound.  For
> instance, the words "call" and "doll" are exact rhymes, both having the
> "aw" sound, while "cot" and "caught" are exact homophones, both having
> the "ah" sound.
> -Marcos
"Dog" is pronounced 'dawg' in NYC also.
Hmm... i wonder what the distribution for (short O) /a/ and /O/ is in
my NYC dialect.  It seems sorta halfhazard (sic ;) ):
dog /O/
god /a/

I'm pretty sure that out on Long (g)Island they pronounce both with
/O/, though.

Maybe it's related to the [&] - [e@] alternation.


-Stephen (Steg)
  "Enthrone your pasts:
    this done, fire and old blood
    will find you again:
   better hearts' breaking
   than worlds'."
  "Dethrone the past:
    this done, day comes up new
    though empty-hearted:
   O the long silence,
   my son!"
      ~ from _the romulan way_ by diane duane & peter morwood

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