"Connecticut accent" in the Times

Beverly Flanigan flanigan at OHIOU.EDU
Thu Sep 9 21:20:28 UTC 2004


At 04:44 PM 9/9/2004 -0400, you wrote:

>This probably won't shock you, but I distinguish between "aural" and
>"oral" primarily by context. Their joint use is rare enough in actual
>speech that I've never been motivated to learn to distinguish them in
>any other way.
>
>BTW, didn't everyone, or every college graduate, at least, once upon a
>time, pronounce, e.g. "coral" and "Volvo" as [kOr at l] and [vOlvo]?
>Nowadays, I seem to hear only [kor at l] and [volvo]. People no longer
>identify "Carl Gables" as the loc of the U of Miami or identify the
>"volv" of Volvo with the "volv" of "revolver."
>
>-Wilson Gray

This college graduate didn't;  "coral" had [o] and "Volvo" had [O], and
both still do.  (What does being a college grad have to do with it, anyway?]



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