"Standard English"?

Found the below on sci.lang

In article <19991230163944.29845.00000080@...>,
nahali@aol.com (Nahali) wrote:
Many dictionaries like World Book(many dictioanries I have seen
use the same system) give transcriptions with symbols that show
different vowels which I don't hear in most speakers of American
English of the Midwest or even on the news.  Does anyone speak
Standard American English?  Many people I meet claim to, but they
don't distinguish many vowels according to what many dictionaries
list.
For example:
The vowels in the words:  care, air, where, their How is this
vowel sound different from the vowels in the words:
bread, friend?
They are given different symbols.
Also, should the vowels in the words: hot, cot, and Don be
pronounced like in the word father or as in RP(with the rounded
vowel)?
Here is a list of words with vowels that distinct according to
World Book:
1.  hat
2.  age
3.  care
4.  father
5.  many
6.  team
7.  pearl
8.  bit
9.  hot
10.  boat
11.  all
12.  come
13.  good
14.  move
15.  alone (schwa)
For most speakers of American English I meet(who claim to speak
standard), the vowels in #4 and #9 are the same.  Also, the
vowels in #7 and #15 are the same.
-J
--
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