wanta / wanna

[Mai Kuha]

On 7/18/02 5:13 PM, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

> But (city) New Yorkers would pronounce "wanta" with /t/, wouldn't
> they?  That would trigger the rhyme, even if we wouldn't ordinarily
> pronounce the drink name with /a/.  Did the ad originate in New York, I
> wonder?

Interesting. But are you saying that there is some perceptual process that
makes a near-rhyme sound like a rhyme to a listener in whose dialect the
rhyme would occur?
mk