Re: tSat: Re: 'tEst 'pli:z ig'nOr\

BP Jonsson wrote:
> Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> hat escreut:
>
>  > > > You pronounce "off" with the same vowel as "all"?
>  >
>  > 'Deed I do. I do not have the cot/caught merger. There was
>  > a chance, way back in 1941, that I might have grown up in
>  > California...but apparently my father couldn't find a job
>  > there. Ow well, je ne regrette rien.
>
> How specifically Californian is LOT-THOUGHT merger
> nowadays, anyway?
I don't know, but suspect it has become somewhat widespread. For that
matter, it's having begun in California (in my mind) is merely Conventional
Wisdom-- it's just what I've heard/read, I have no direct knowledge of the
truth of the statement.

>  > How about old US middlewesterners too. :-))))
>
> Yes, you do belong to the oldest cadre of GenAm speakers,
> don't you? But again, how common is lack of the LOT-THOUGHT
> merger in the youngest cadre?
In my state of old-grump-hood, sad to say, I have very little contact with
those young whippersnappers ;-))))))

ObConlang!!! Kash has çambrocu (pej. of old men) 'duffer, geezer, "dirty old
man".  One could nominalize it (acambrocu) to translate my "old-grump-hood"
above. It might be amusing to know what natlangs and other conlangs have for
such terms.

OTOH I haven't yet found the equiv. pej. term for young people, but I will,
I will.