Re: Retroflex vowels?

 Tristan Alexander McLeay <anstouh@...> writes:

> On Sat, 26 Jan 2002, Roger Mills wrote:
>
> > Interesting.  Amer.Engl. /ow/ (as in pole) and /U/ (as in pull) are
> > undergoing merger in some dialects-- but mainly before /r/; I think this
> > started in NYC speech. Thus "sure" and "shore" are becoming homophones or
> > nearly so.  I hadn't heard of it before /l/, but it's not surprising since
> > /r/ and /l/ are somewhat similar.
> > I suspect it has more to do with the velarized /l/ than with retroflexion,
> > though I could be wrong.
>
Hmm.... NYC SPEECH?? I don't think so....all the people that I've heard who come from
my dear city (well, I live 30 minutes away..but, it's still my city)...say:

[S@r]  <sure>
[SOr]  <shore>
(Although it might be [Sor], i can't really decide. I'm sitting here saying the
word..and it's not making sense to me anymore! :) But it's definitely not
homophonous with sure.

Elliott