donkey, monkey, honky

[Rudolph C Troike]

        For me (Southmost Texas), 1 & 3 rhyme with open "o" (transcribed
dictionary-wise as \aw\ by some listers), while 2 has schwa (I don't do
wedge -- that's a British pronunciation). However, donkey with a schwa is
common in at least parts of Ohio (and used to be in Brooklyn).

        Since honky allegedly came from Bohunk,
Jim Landau's pronunciation of it with a schwa makes good sense. I could
never figure out how one got from Bohunk to honkey, when the latter had
the vowel of "honk". Schwa must have been the original vowel, and the
pronuciation was influenced by false (folk) association with "honk"
(unless the regional pronunciation of Bohunk is with an open "o").

        Rudy

(Footnote to another thread: on the campus of the University of Texas
(Austin), there is a statue of Jefferson Davis, President of the
Confederate States of America, standing with a copy of the US constitution
open in one hand. The implications are clear.)