Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)

On Thursday 30 January 2003 2:53 pm, And Rosta wrote:
> John:
> > And Rosta scripsit:
>
> [...]
>
> > > > she wos angry and told him to begon.  At that moment the oener ov the
> > >
> > > <oener> because mergers that affect both RP & GenAm are carried over
> > > into RI?
> >
> > "ow" in RI represents the sound of "how now brown cow".  I don't
> > understand how "own" got to be spelled that way (< OE a:gen) anyhow
> > Perhaps to avoid collision with "one" which was formerly a homophone
> > Anyway, "ow" in "show" etc. > "oe", as in "hoe".  This means occasional
> > chain reforms:  "shoe" > "shoo", "show" > "shoe"
>
> i was thinking of the waning accents that don't rhyme moan/mown,
> groan/grown. But you're right: I was perhaps misled by the spelling
> into thinking that _own_ was /own/ in Middle English, & I have no
> way of checking.
>
> --And.
IIRC, it was /u:n/.