Re: A question

alypius wrote:

> I grew up in SE Texas, and I not only say /hw/, but I thought everyone else
> did too!  It's news to me if this phoneme is headed for extinction.  It
> would be a pity to lose it, its such an enchanting sound...whistle, whirl,
> whipoorwill, whack, whoa (not woe)...a whopper is a big hamburger ; a
> wopper, I would guess, a big Italian.
Where did you grow up?   Maybe it's just a Houston thing, or an urban-rural
thing; people in Austin don't have the distinction either.

Or it could be just that both cities have lots and lots of emigrees from up north,
or  out west, which they do, and so don't preserve the distinction.  But I've never
noticed the distinction anywhere else in the state; my mother's also from Waco, and
doesn't make the distinction.

(BTW, I like it too, which is why, just for fun, I have almost fully integrated it
into my phoneme inventory :)  )


===========================================
Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
AIM: Deuterotom ICQ: 4315704
<http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
===========================================