Re: Phoneme winnowing continues

> OK, just to confuse the issue, I have phonemic vowel length. :)
>
> Dam the river!  /d&m/
> Damn the river!  /d&:m/
>
> I have at least one other minimal pair (lam : lamb); I think there may be
> another, but I forget it.
I have long claimed to have a minimal pair on vowel length for
the two spellings of the name /dZan/.  I hear John as [dZa:n]
and Jon as [dZan].  I told this to my friend Jon, but he just thinks
I'm being silly.  Do you think this distinction comes from a knowledge
of a missing vowel in the first but not the second?  I can't remember
having the distinction before I knew the name in other languages,
such as Johann or something, but before I knew it in other languages
I would probably not recognize minimal pairs in my idiolect ;-).

Jake