ah/ awe

[Beverly Flanigan]

Near-mergers (those not yet complete) can be distinguished by native
speakers of a particular dialect (like those in the NC example), though
even they can get mixed up sometimes when tested.  A number of studies have
been done on these "mistakes" in perception by both native and non-native
dialect speakers, including one I did on perceptions of southeastern Ohio
vowels.  Another well-known one, by William Labov of the Univ. of
Pennsylvania, is of the "merry/Murray" (near-) merger in the
Philadelphia-Baltimore area.  All these studies can be looked up, Tom.

Beverly Flanigan
Dept. of Linguistics
Ohio University

At 11:18 AM 10/1/2006, you wrote:
>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
> >
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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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