hawk/hock

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:28 AM -0700 7/11/02, A. Maberry wrote:
>On Thu, 11 Jul 2002, Anne Gilbert wrote:
>>
>>  INteresting.  I've *always* pronounced "hock" and "hawk"(the bird, at least)
>>  differently.  Maybe other parts of the country are different from the
>>  Pacific Northwest in this respect?
>>  Anne G
>
>Maybe so. For me, "hawk" (the bird) and "hawk" (one's wares) are
>homophones.
>"Hock" as in "hock shop" and "ham hock" are also homophonous, but not with
>"hawk".
>
Ditto on both counts from this New Yorker, but of course we preserve
all our orthographically maintained vowel distinctions, down to the
Mary/merry/marry ones.

Larry