ah/ awe

[sagehen]

>Tom, the school systems of several nations have been trying for a century
>and a half to keep people from saying "ain't."  With little success.
>
>  In the second grade in NYC, a substitute teacher tried to get us to
>pronounce the vowel identically (as "ah") in all these words:
>
>  Frog, Hog, Log, Smog, Fog, Dog.
>
>  She claimed it only made sense and, apparently, would help build
>character. We thought she was a crank. Eventualy she gave up. For me,
>they're all "ah" except for "dawg."  In many other places they're all "aw"
>or something similar.
>
>  JL
 ~~~~~~~~~~
My "cot" & "caught" are pretty far apart, and the  list above fall
somewhere between, but closer to "caught."  "Dahg" to me would be the late
Sec'y Gen. of the UN.
Tom, would you wipe out all dialectal differences in pursuit of this
pronounce-as-spelled campaign?  How would you deal, e.g., with the
diphthongal i with which most northerners pronounce /light, sight, might/,
&c?
AM

~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>

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