Re: question on sampa representation

From: "Dirk Elzinga" <Dirk_Elzinga@...>
Subject: Re: question on sampa representation


> At 5:26 PM -0500 3/24/03, John Cowan wrote:
> >Joe Fatula scripsit:
> >
> >> - put book foot
> >> - pull rule ghoul fool
> >> - putter pun rough lung judge
> >
> >This is all copacetic for my dialect, except for "pull", which belongs in
the
> >"put" set.  In the set you have it in, it would be homonymous with
"pool".
>
> In a sound change currently underway in the Western US, the tense/lax
distinction is disappearing before /l/, so the words 'pull' and 'pool' are
homophonous, as are 'heel/hill', 'peel/pill', and 'sale/sell'. My wife, who
is from Minnesota, finds this incredibly amusing, especially when the
neighbor kids keep yelling at their dog to "Hill!". We also see signs
advertising stuff "for sell".


Probably true, but it's not a change used by me.  "pull" and "pool" are
homophonous, but not "heel/hill", "peel/pill", "sale/sell", etc.
Pronouncing "pull" with the vowel of "book" sounds strange to me, but I've
heard it.  Can anyone think of another word that has this vowel before "l"?
I'm wondering if the prescence of "l" has anything to do with this in my
idiolect.

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