Re: OT: "Claw" (was "I'm new at this")

David Peterson wrote:
>Replying to Christophe:
I know this's not addressed to me, but I couldn't resist mentioning a couple
of points ...

>All right, we've got to get this straight, because the pronunciation which
>you're saying is normal, I would claim could never exist in any dialect of
>English in any part of the world ever.   Let me make sure we're not getting
>any wires crossed here:
>
>1.) First, we're talking about the word "claw", which is usually the paw of
>an animal which has with sharp nails.
>
>2.) [A] is a low, back, unrounded vowel, and [aw] is a front, low,
>unrounded
>vowel followed by a labio-velar glide (or some sort of high, back, rounded
>coda), forming a diphthong.
>
>3.) The word "clod" has [A] ([k_h5A:d]), and the word "cloud" has [aw]
>([k_h5aw:d]).
Are velarized /l/ really that omnipresent? I know that RP I learnt in school
is kinda out-dated, but is non-velarized /l/ really totally dead?

>4.) The word "clawed" is identical to the word "clod" in pronunciation, and
>NOT "cloud".
I've got a length distinction here, which I seem to be hearing among some
natives too. Disregarding the kind of /l/ and minor vocalic difference,
something like [klo:d]~[klod]~[klawd].

>5.) The only other pronunciation of "claw" is [k_h5O], where [O] is an
>open-mid, back, rounded vowel.
I'm sure long vowels, both rounded and unrounded, are pretty common too.

                                                   Andreas

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