/or/ distinctions and more

[Aaron E. Drews]

on 7/4/00 9:00 PM, dInIs wrote:

> Aaron,
>
> I (and my generation of South Midland speakers) have it (b. 1940);

I gather (trying to remember Labov's map correctly) that you also
distinguish cot~caught?

> younger
> speakers do not. Haven't studied the transition.

How's the caught~cot thing with the younger speakers?  I'm finding that
syllable-rhyme /r/ does funny things with the phonology, and I think the
caught~cot merger is a part of it in a tangential way (mourning~morning
merges first, then caught~cot).

Thanks, again,
Aaron


>
> Dennis
  ^^^^^^
Is this you getting formal? :-)



________________________________________________________________________
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