back vowel phonemes

[Nathan Brown]

I live in Schenectady New York; I think I speak with a fairly typical
dialect for the area. In "I got it on with Sean and Dawn on the lawn." I'd
use /)/ in "Sean," "Dawn" and "lawn," but /a/ in "on." In "I've carried on
with Hillary Hahn and Genghis Khan," I'd use /a/ in all of those. In "lost,"
I'd use /)/; I'd use /)/ in "dog," but I'd use /a/ in other words before
/g/, like "hog," "log" and "fog." I'd use /)/ before /ng/ as in "long" and
"song," and before /f/, as in

However, in the words where I have /)/, /)/ often alternates with something
more like /ua/. You should know what I'm talking about; it's the sound used
by people in New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore in these words.
That's the Troy influence on my speech; this /ua/ sound is rampant in Albany
and Troy. Mayor Jerry Jennings of Albany pronounces the "Alb" of his city's
name like /uab/.