/or/ distinctions

[Dennis R. Preston]

Aaron,

I (and my generation of South Midland speakers) have it (b. 1940); younger
speakers do not. Haven't studied the transition.

Dennis

>Is the morning~mourning, horse~hoarse, border~boarder distinction still made
>in north America?  Is it relegated to a region, and if so, is it part of the
>regional standard?  Also, if it is restricted to a region, is there any
>generational differences, ie, do the older speakers maintain the distinction
>and the younger speakers merge the two sounds?
>
>Thank you!
>
>--Aaron
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>Aaron E. Drews                               The University of Edinburgh
>http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron      Departments of English Language and
>aaron at ling.ed.ac.uk                    Theoretical & Applied Linguistics
>
> "MERE ACCUMULATION OF OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE IS NOT PROOF"
>  --Death


Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736