/or/ distinctions and more

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 4/13/2000 6:40:10 AM, preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU writes:

<< They appear to still have the caught vowel in the historically
high-likelihood environments, however (voiced velars [frog] fricartives
[cough], etc...) so the merger is complex. >>

For me, an Iowan born in 1940, FROG (and most pre-/g/ words) can only rhyme
with CAUGHT, but CHIC*A*GO is in free variation, and SOGGY and SLOG are
variable.