Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)

shtaving And Rosta:
>Pete Bleackley:
>> shtaving John Cowan:
>> >And Rosta scripsit:
>> >
>> >> i was thinking of the waning accents that don't rhyme moan/mown,
>> >> groan/grown
>> >
>> >Hmm.  What's the distinction phonetically?
>>
>> In each case, the second ends with a consonant cluster "wn", rather than a
>> single consonant "n"
>
>In the accent from which part of the country?
>
My accent is somewhat unusual. I'm from Bolton in Lancashire, but my accent
is about 90% RP/BBC English. There are some notable local features,
especially use of vowels. My pronunciation of bathroom ([b&Tru:m] I think
is how ASCII IPA would render it) is totally different from how my wife,
who comes from Chiswick, would pronounce it ([ba:Trum]). I also use a
number of local expressions, such as "ginnel" meaning "alleyway" (I'm not
sure of the spelling, as it's a word I've never seen written down), "daft
ha'porth" [d&ft eip@T], and   "Going all round Farnworth to get to Moses'
Gate". Unstressed vowels tend to remain distinct, rather than reducing to
schwas, and my consonants are very crisp. So an unusual speach pattern,
owing a lot to personal eccentricity, but, in fact, very easy to
understand. I have a good public speaking voice, which carries well. The
only problem is that I find it difficult not to project my voice!

Pete Bleackley

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