ah/ awe

[Jonathan Lighter]

In a similar way, a great many people find it almost impossible to imitate the old-time NYC diphthong in "bird."  It's written as "boid," but does not usu. sound like the surname "Boyd."

  They can't do it, just as many people can't hear the difference between "cot" and "caught" - no matter which sound they prefer.

  A Candid Camera segment in the '60s showed people in eastern North Carolina insisting that "oil" and "all" sounded entirely different. What made it hilarious was that one after another kept saying, "One is AWL and the other's AWL ! They're different !"

  At least that's how I and the producers of Candid Camera heard it.

  JL
Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: ah/ awe
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not necessarily, Tom. I was at a party at which people were wearing
nametags. A woman named "Wanda," as a joke, had written "Wander" on
her nametag. In the course of the evening, she was approached by an
Englishman who wondered about her name, "Wander." After she explained
the pun, the Englishman ejaculated, "Oh, I see! Yaw name is not
'Wan-DUH'!, It's 'Wan-DUH'!" Clearly, he was under the impression
that, just as he had understood the distinction - once that it was
explained to him - just so could he reproduce the distinction. Not
true.

-Wilson



------------ Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Tom Zurinskas
> Subject: Re: ah/ awe
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >From: "Gordon, Matthew J."
> >>
> >Suggesting that people with this vowel merger "are flat out refusing to =
> >say the phoneme 'awe'" makes about as much sense as claiming that these =
> >same people are refusing to say the fricative phoneme corresponding to =
> >the in night, naughty, ought, etc. The truth is these sounds are =
> >not part of the phonemic inventory of these speakers (or of the vast =
> >majority of speakers in the latter case). Normally we don't get to =
> >choose our phonemic inventories. So, it's just wrong to think that =
> >merged speakers somehow have a choice of whether to deploy the 'awe' =
> >phoneme and choose to reject it.=20
> >
>
> To my ears it's not a merger between "ah" and "awe" it's a substitution of
> "ah" for "awe" and a dropping of the "awe" phoneme altogether.
>
> What does it mean to say the sound "awe" is not in their inventory? Is this
> something like "r" dropping in UK. Certainly they can say the "r" if they
> want. They just don't want to. Most likely because it's not in vogue in
> their geographic area dialect. But certainly they hear it on TV and can say
> "awe" if they want to.
>
> My thinking is that "ah" is easier to say than "awe" so it's substituted for
> "awe". I hear folks that never have made that substitution before, making
> it now. It's on TV, It's everywhere. I wonder if it's a Spanish influence.
>
> On a philosophic note I'd rather pronounce the "k" in "knot" and "p" in
> "pneumonia" to keep pronunciaiton closer to spelling. This is a reading
> problem. Not good to go the other way, such as changing the pronunciation
> from "awe" to "ah" and creating heteronyms and possible understanding
> problems and phonics confusions.
>
> Tom Z
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

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