Dueling dialects

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:00 AM -0400 8/20/04, David Bergdahl wrote:
>Ed (from SE PA/Philly) wrote:
>
>No way, the classical 3-way distinction was: Mary [e],
>merry [@], marry [ae]. Any other pronunciation is
>barbaric :)
>
>so merry = Murray??
>
>4-way splitting David from Valley Stream, LI, NY

Yes, that was the locus classicus for that particular dialect, and
taking account of it does turn us purists into 4-way splitters as you
point out.  Most U.S. speakers do distinguish "Murray" from the other
three, so they're 2-way speakers.  (This is beginning to sound like
ordering chili in Cincinnati.)

L