hawk/hock

[Catherine Aman]

Me too; I born & raised in Penna.

My grandmother had an accent that seems to be gone forever. I've forgotten
many of her distinctive phrasings, but do remember that she pronounced
"world" as "whirled" and "larch" (the tree) as "lahch" (and, strangely, used
the word "cunning" to describe something cute or pretty.)  She was born and
raised in Salem, Mass. Anyone ever come across a young person who speaks
this way?

> ----------
> From:         sagehen
> Reply To:     American Dialect Society
> Sent:         Thursday, July 18, 2002 11:43 AM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: hawk/hock
>
>   Jim Landau, Thu, 18 Jul 2002 09:46:27 EDT, writes:
> >I always distinguish the /ah/ of "cot" and "hock" from the /aw/ of
> "caught"
> >and "hawk", but do I have an unusual speech pattern in which most
> people's
> >/ahr/ is  converted to /awr/?
>
> Not by me.  I make these and all the distinctions you point out in this
> post in the same way.  I was born & raised in Nebraska, of parents born &
> raised in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas & Nebraska.  [You didn't
> mention
> "warsh" (for "wash"), which I had until I consciously suppressed it
> sometime in my teens.  That /ar/ is a little more like "warm" than "arm."]
> A. Murie
>
>