My old buddy the archiphoneme

[Herbert Stahlke]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis R. Preston"

> Definitely not an archiphoneme (though it warms my heart to see the
> word early on Saturday morning). Not all neutralization is
> archiphonemic. In this case the merger of /O/ and /a/ (as in most
> western US dialects, Eastern New England and a growing band across
> the Midland) does not result in an archiphoneme; it simply results in
> phoneme loss. I have one more phoneme than such speakers (and clearly
> a great deal of moral superiority by possessing it).

One more phoneme!  What moral superiority!  I guess since my SE Mich dialect
has phonemicized Canadian Raising before /d/, /nd/, and in open syllables,
and I don't have the /O/  /a/ merger, your moral superiority is trumped.
Don't mess with native Michiganders.

Herb