hawk/hock

[sagehen]

 Peter McGraw writes:
In another post, Matthew Gordon observed:

"Labov's TELSUR project found noone in the NW who had a consistent
distinction between the low back vowels. The general pattern is as expected
of waves of the future: younger speakers merge while older speakers are
variable."
~~~~~~
I was rather inclined to accept this as explaining why my fellow Nebraskan
(landsman?), Matthew Gordon, & I differ in this matter.  I do and have
always distinguished between hawk & hock. I'm guessing that I'm a good deal
older than Matthew.
A. Murie