ont/ahnt

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Oct 7 15:19:30 UTC 2010


A lawyer connected with Blawg
Bred a cur with the firedrake Smaug.
So PETA filed suit
Against the old coot
For trying this out on the dog.


JL
On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 10:59 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 10/6/2010 10:50 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >At 9:47 PM -0400 10/6/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>Those are good exx., Larry. Now I can write that poem.
> >>
> >>JL
> >
> >Right; three is enough for a limerick.  The content may have to be a
> >bit forced, though...
>
> Add hawg.
>
> Joel
>
>
> >LH
> >
> >>
> >>On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 9:38 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrote:
> >>
> >>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  -----------------------
> >>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >>>  Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
> >>>
> >>>
>
> >>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>  At 9:11 PM -0400 10/6/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>>  >Hog rhymes with frog and log.  It has [ a:] as in gaga.
> >>>  >
> >>>  >Dog doesn't rhyme with anything I can think of offhand. It has
> >>> [D: ] as in
> >>>  >"chalk").
> >>>
> >>>  Ditto for me, essentially, but it *could* rhyme with other words.  In
> >>>  fact it rhymes with "blawg" (a law-based blog, with supposedly 3.95
> >>>  million g-hits; not to be confused with "blog" itself, which of
> >>>  course rhymes with "frog" and "log") and with "Smaug" (Tolkien's
> >>>  dragon, which doesn't rhyme with "smog"), although I concede that
> >>>  those are spelling pronunciations, since neither comes up much in
> >>>  ordinary conversation.
> >>>
> >>>  LH
> >>>
> >>>  >
> >>>  >On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 7:14 PM, Paul Johnston <
> paul.johnston at wmich.edu
> >>>  >wrote:
> >>>  >
> >>>  >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  >>  -----------------------
> >>>  >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>  >>  Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> >>>  >>  Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
> >>>  >>
> >>>  >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>
> >>>  >>  Dear Jonathan,
> >>>  >>  That's my pattern too.  My wife makes fun of my pronunciation of
> both
> >>>  dog
> >>>  >>  and hog, (She has [D]).
> >>>  >>
> >>>  >>  Paul Johnston
> >>>  >>   On Oct 6, 2010, at 7:10 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>>  >>
> >>>  >>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  >>  -----------------------
> >>>  >>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>  >>  > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >>>  >>  > Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  > Father and bother rhyme perfectly for me.
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  > Dog and hog don't. At all.
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  > JL
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  > On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 6:37 PM, Paul Johnston <
> >>>  paul.johnston at wmich.edu
> >>>  >>  >wrote:
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  >>  >> -----------------------
> >>>  >>  >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >>>  >>  >> Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> >>>  >>  >> Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>  >> "CON"/"KAHN" would work as [kDn]/[kAn] in the Pittsburgh area,
> I
> >>>  think,
> >>>  >>  and
> >>>  >>  >> neither would rhyme with "town", which would be [tan].  I just
> >>>  checked
> >>>  >>  with
> >>>  >>  >> two colleagues of mine, one from Canonsburg, PA, the other from
> >>>  >>  Fairmont,
> >>>  >>  >> WV, and they had different vowels in father and bother (a
> >>  > near-minimal
> >>>  >>  pair)
> >>>  >>  >> as [A] vs. [D] (rounded low vowel).  The latter is LOT/THOUGHT
> for
> >>>  them.
> >>>  >>  >> The former is, in Wells's terminology, PALM.
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>  >> Paul Johnston
> >>>  >>  >> On Oct 6, 2010, at 6:17 PM, David Wake wrote:
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>  >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  >>  >> -----------------------
> >>>  >>  >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>  >>  >>> Poster:       David Wake <dwake at STANFORDALUMNI.ORG>
> >>>  >>  >>> Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
> >>>  >>  >>>
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >>>
> >>>  >>  >>> Can you offer a minimal pairs for these dialects?  E.g.
> >>  > "con"/"Kahn",
> >>>  >>  >>> perhaps?  I thought that, with the exception of Eastern New
> >>>  England,
> >>>  >>  >>> these dialects would all use their LOT vowel (rounded or
> >>> unrounded)
> >>>  >>  >>> for both lexical sets.
> >>>  >>  >>>
> >>>  >>  >>> D
> >>>  >>  >>>
> >>>  >>  >>> On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 11:16 AM, Paul Johnston <
> >>>  >>  paul.johnston at wmich.edu>
> >>>  >>  >> wrote:
> >>>  >>  >>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  >>  >> -----------------------
> >>>  >>  >>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>  >>  >>>> Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> >>>  >>  >>>> Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>> Most dialects where the LOT class is a low back ROUNDED
> >>> vowel will
> >>>  >>  >> pronounce ont and ahnt differently, particularly because of the
> /n/
> >>>  >>  after
> >>>  >>  >> it-- Eastern New England, the area from Erie PA through
> Pittsburgh
> >>>  down
> >>>  >>  into
> >>>  >  > >> West Virginia and into Kentucky, several Upper Southern
> dialects,
> >>>  >>  Canada--in
> >>>  >>  >> Eastern New England, the difference should be really striking:
> [D]
> >>>  (I
> >>>  >>  mean
> >>>  >>  >> the IPA symbol for a low back rounded vowel here) vs. a front
> [a:].
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>> Paul Johnston
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>> On Oct 6, 2010, at 10:23 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>  >>  >> -----------------------
> >>>  >>  >>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>  >>  >>>>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >>>  >>  >>>>> Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt
> >>>  >>  >>>>>
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>  >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >>>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>> At 10/5/2010 08:49 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >>>  >>  >>>>>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
> >>>  >>  >>>>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>>> On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 5:45 PM, David Wake <
> >>>  >>  dwake at stanfordalumni.org>
> >>>  >>  >> wrote:
> >>>  >>  >>>>>>> "ont"
> >>>  >>  >>>>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>>> In most dialects of AmE, "ont" = "ahnt."
> >>>  >>  >>>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>> Can you give me some examples where it doesn't?  And
> >>> please don't
> >>>  say
> >>>  >>  >>>>> you won't.
> >>>  >>  >>>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>> Joel
> >>>  >>  >>>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >>>>> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >>>> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>  >>  >>>>
> >>>  >>  >>>
> >>>  >>  >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>  >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>  >>  >>
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  > --
> >>>  >>  > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
> the
> >>>  >>  truth."
> >>>  >>  >
> >>>  >>  > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>  >>
> >>>  >>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>  >>
> >>>  >
> >>>  >
> >>>  >
> >>>  >--
> >>>  >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >>  > truth."
> >>>  >
> >>>  >------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>--
> >>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list