Re: USAGE: [CONLANG] A discourse on Phonemics (was:

John Cowan:
> And Rosta scripsit:
>
> > There's some confusion here. _wrath_ in RP is /rQT/, [RQT],
> > rhymes with _cloth_ (as it does for you, but not, I think, GenAm),
>
> Not for me either:  [R{T], [klOT].
>
> > and doesn't rhyme with _bath_, /bA:T/, [bAT], or _Plath_, as, I
> > think, it does for most Americans.
>
> [b{T], [pl{T].
>
> > > Hence the joke:  the girl says "Mr. Epstein is waxing wroth!",
> > > and Groucho replies:  "Tell Roth to wax Epstein for a while."
> >
> > Does the joke work for most Americans? Or only Noo Yawkas?
>
> I don't know: it depends on how GenAm speakers pronounce "Roth".
> My dialect is a little East and a little old.
I'm still a bit flummoxed, because surely if _wrath_ is [R&T],
rhyming with _bath, Plath_, it doesn't rhyme with _Roth_ or
_cloth_?

--And.

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