What do /a/ and /O/ merge to?

[Herbert Stahlke]

Of course we shouldn't, and in my question I indicated two different
results, one with /a/, or something close to it, and one with /O/, or
something close to it.  The Phonological Atlas of North America indicates
several other possibilities.  The question is who does what with the merger.
I could go on to ask in what ways the merger is conditioned.  Some of my
students have /O/ before /l/ and /a/ elsewhere.  Others have /O/ everywhere,
and still others have /a/ everywhere.

But these different results should have some discernable social and/or
geographical distribution.  I'll have to find Beverly's article.  I suspect
she provides some of this answer.

Herb

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Mark A Mandel
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 8:17 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: What do /a/ and /O/ merge to?


I don't think we should expect this question to have a uniform answer.
The whole point of phonemic merger is loss of distinction. It seems
perfectly reasonable that different communities could realize a single
phoneme (in the same context) in different ways -- in fact, once you
abstract from the issue of merger, it's all over the place.

-- Mark A. Mandel