/bolth/ for both

[Matthew Gordon]

At first I was thinking that it might be related to the fact that /o/
fronting isn't so common in the North (e.g. Chicago) but this leads to some
kind of dialect mixing story.

Another possibility is that the labial /b/ is involved. Labial consonants
and lip rounding in general have the accoustic effect of lowering formant
frequencies which would lead to perceived backness. So a fronted /o/ in
'both' might not sound so front and thus speakers might interpret that /o/
as pre-/l/, a context they associate with back /o/s.


On 4/6/05 1:30 PM, "Greg Pulliam" <pulliam at IIT.EDU> wrote:

> Thanks for this.  I take it /o/ is fronting toward the central vowel
> as in "but"?  And words like "cold" and "bolt" are resistant to this?
> How do we account for "both" being disassociated with the fronted /o/
> and associated with the back [o]--perhaps it just happens in emphatic
> _both_?
>
> Greg
>
>
>> I haven't been following this thread so forgive me if this observation has
>> been made already.
>> I don't see how it could be related to the Northern Cities Shift which
>> involves, mostly short vowels.
>> A more plausible connection is with /o/ fronting which is common across the
>> Midlands (and elsewhere). Importantly /o/ is generally resistent to fronting
>> when it appears before /l/. So the back [o] allophone comes to be associated
>> with /ol/ context and thus an /l/ is inserted unetymologically.
>> I think J. Ohala has written on this phenomenon.
>>
>>
>> On 4/6/05 12:14 PM, "Greg Pulliam" <pulliam at IIT.EDU> wrote:
>>
>>>  Maybe the /bolth/ pronunciation is related to the northern cities
>>>  shift?  A movement (in just this word or a few words right now) of
>>>  the /o/ vowel slightly back or down, the result of which more sounds
>>>  like, than actually is, /bolth/.
>>>
>>>  Greg
>>>
>>>
>>>>  I've never heard "bolth" or "polm"
>>>>
>>>>  I have always pronounced the "l" in "almond", even
>>>>  after having been corrected.  Doesn't the voice in the
>>>>  TV ads for Almond Joy pronounce the "l"? (I haven't
>>>>  heard an ad for Almond Joy in a long, long time.)
>>>>
>>>>  FWIW, I say "nucular" more often than not, and I don't
>>>>  pronounce the "t" in "often" or "soften.  (On Wheel of
>>>>  Fortune a while back, a woman had part of the word
>>>>  "soften" on the board as part of a phrase - something
>>>>  like "**ften" - and when she correctly completed the
>>>>  phrase she pronounced the "t", followed by a look of
>>>>  confusion or puzzlement on her face as she realized
>>>>  what she'd said.)
>>>>
>>>>  --- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>>>>>   FWIW, never heard "bolth" or "polm" round here - or
>>>>>   anywhere else. "Almond" pronounced with all the
>>>>>   letters, yes; also in NYC in the '50s.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
>>>>  South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
>>>>  jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
>>>>                                 |or slowly and cautiously.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>  --
>>>  -
>>>  Greg
>>>
>>>  http://www.pulliam.org
>
>
> --
> -
> Greg
>
> http://www.pulliam.org