Hypercorrection of /w/-/hw/

[Herbert Stahlke]

Bethany,

Do you consistently use the contrast, even when a hw-form is in an
unstressed position?  What several posters have observed about the pragmatic
conditioning of /hw/ holds also for the distribution of implosive stops.
These are found particularly in Southern speech, but they also occur less
frequently in Midwestern speech.  Ladefoged gives an example in his
Course... of Carl Sagan saying "billions and billions" with implosives.  I
transcribed an example in Norman, OK, bar some years back, a middle-aged
truck driver from Oklahoma saying "This beer ain't no damn good" with all
three initial voiced stops imploded.  All three words were also emphatic.

Herb


This thread has been vaguely annoying to this native hw- speaker (and I
have not read all the psots). I just figured out why. I am not
<hypercorrecting> when I speak my native (southeast TX) dialect.

Bethany