Re: Not phonetic but ___???

Mark J. Reed scripsit:

> And what's a "long" low back vowel as opposed to a "short"
> one?  Quantity isn't phonemic in my 'lect and none of the vowel
> qualities that were called "long" in phonics are low and back.
Historically, the difference between "lot" and "law" was vowel length,
conditioned by the following consonant/zero.  Unrounding the short vowel
merged it with /a/, making length no longer phonemic.  (Other cases of
length are phonemic in non-rhotic dialects.)

--
Long-short-short, long-short-short / Dactyls in dimeter,
Verse form with choriambs / (Masculine rhyme):  jcowan@reutershealth.com
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