ah/ awe

[Tom Zurinskas]

A dialect survey is done by Bert Vaux at

http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/

Click on Maps and Results at left shows that the spread for both is all over
the USA.

28. Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same?
     a. different (60.93%)
     b. same (39.07%)
     (11050 respondents)

I assume by "the same" is meant "cot" is said for both.  What appears to be
happening is that some folks are flat out refusing to say the phoneme "awe".
  Words like "off" "talk" "awe" "all" "gone", are all spoken with "ah", and
"awe" is gone (gahn).  Not good.

Tom Z


See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org