Ambiguous AHD/AmE pronunciation guides

[Dennis Preston]

And imagine how us standard English speakers feel when we encounter
in Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams that the key word provided for open-o
is "bore." This assumes the conflation of "hoarse" and "horse," a
shameful loss! (But see DNAE for evidence of the small and shrinking
zone where this distinction persists.) Too much pandering to "caught"
- "cot" conflaters!

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
>Subject:      Re: Ambiguous AHD/AmE pronunciation guides
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>
>In fact, it was from pronunciation guides in teach-yourself books on
>other languages that I figured out that there were anglophones who
>somehow differentiated, for instance, "caught" and "cot". (And, on
>the other hand, it always nagged the back of my mind that no
>distinction was made between the vowels in "eyes" and "ice" -- which
>are different where I come from.)
>
>James Harbeck.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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