USAGE: [a] vs [A]

On Fri, Jun 13, 2003 at 02:15:47PM -0400, Steg Belsky wrote:
> My pronounciation is probably fairly close to yours... i just couldn't
> remember how to mark R-coloring,
I keep a link to the IPA/X-SAMPA chart - found via
http://www.conlanglinks.tk - handy at all times. :)

> and i have trouble telling whether my /a/'s sound like [a] or [A].
My understanding is that [a] is the stereotypical Midwestern "ah",
heard in the Chicago pronounciation of, well, "Chicago", but also
"pop", etc.  It seems to have a bit of an [&] flavor (yeah, I know,
real scientific).  It doesn't occur at all in my idiolect, although
I hear it all the time in my cousins' speech - they're from Detroit.
The [A] sound is not really associated with any particular region,
but is common to many; it's the same sound as the Latin long A,
preserved as the sole A sound in most of the modern Romance languages.

-Mark