ah/ awe

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:40 PM +0000 10/1/06, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>
>>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.
>
>I actually remember the original of that one.  Dating myself.  The speaker
>would say all and oil the same way and insist they were said differently.
>Makes one wonder if those saying cot and caught the same way would insist
>they were saying them differently.
>
>Tom Z
>
No doubt many would.  To me the odder thing is the other way around;
Labov recorded a number of instances in which speakers would clearly
distinguish members of minimal pairs and then insist that they
pronounced the two words alike.

LH

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