Back Vowel Phonemes

[Beverly Flanigan]

And from this Minnesotan until age 25:  All my vowels agree with Herb's,
except for upon=a and watch=a.  However, though horror=) for me, sorry=a,
probably because I've changed on this high frequency word but not on the
seldom said 'horror'.  Most Minnesotans say 'sorry' with /)/, I believe.

At 08:35 AM 9/19/00 -0500, you wrote:
>This Northerner (SE MI, SW WI, N IN by age 21) has yet to see his
>vowels as given by other Northerners, especially those of more
>eastern extraction.  I have
>
>dog = )
>lost=)
>horror=)
>on=a
>upon=)
>water=)
>wash=)
>frog=)
>watch=)
>swatch=a
>toss=)
>
>but consistently /a/ before alveolar stops.  Unless I missed it,
>I haven't seen different vowels in on and upon.  Swatch may be /a/
>because I learned it later.
>
>Herb Stahlke


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm