ah/ awe

[Tom Zurinskas]

Good one.  To tell the truth I never associated "Wanda" as having the same
pronuciation as "wander"  as it would said be in UK, which drops final
"r's".  I guess the Brit didn't recognize it as well.  I like your "yaw" for
"your".

When I say to Brits that they should pronounce their "r"s, boy do I get many
ejaculations in my face.  I assume the can say their "r"s but choose not to.
It's an identity thing.

Like substituting "ah" for "awe", I think r-dropping is easier to say as
well.

Tom Z


>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>
>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 <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: ah/ awe
> >
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > >From: "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
> > >>
> > >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 <gh> 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
> >
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> >
>
>
>--
>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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