hawk/hock

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 7/18/02 11:41:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM writes:

>  [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."]


Yes, I still say /warsh/ and /warshingt'n/.  My parents were born and raised
in Louisville, Ky.  My grandparents are from Louisville, New York, and
Galicia (then part of Austria-Hungary).

I think you are right about my /ar/, and specifically the /ar/ or "harsh", as
being more like "warm" than "arm".  As best I can tell (I have NO training in
phonetics), my /ar/ in "arm" is much, uh, backer than my /ar/ in "harsh".
But that still leaves the question of why, unlike the M-W 10th Collegiate, I
pronounce "mop" and "mar" with noticeably different vowels.  If I talk about
the Battle of the Marne (in France), I say /mahrn/, but if I mar the finish
on my desk, it is definitely /mawr/, close if not identical to my /aw/ of
"warm".

      Still confused,

      Jim Landau