Hockey

[Paul Johnston]

It is the CAUGHT vowel in "coffee" in Brooklyn, and indeed,
throughout the whole NY/NJ area.  A person asking for a cup of
"cahfee" is definitely from someplace outside the Metro region.
Realizations range from the stereotypical [U@] through [o@~O@] to
[O:].  I don't know how widespread this pattern is, but among
monosyllables ending in -og, the NY/NJ pattern is to have CAUGHT in
dog, but COT in all other words.  It's totally foreign to my Western
Michigan students, who have CAUGHT in coffee and all the -og words,
even if their vowel is a fully low, usually back, often-but-not-
always rounded vowel.

Paul Johnston
On May 19, 2007, at 4:25 PM, James Harbeck wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> Subject:      Re: Hockey
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
>> Yes, I distinguish between COT and CAUGHT, so HOCKEY for me has
>> the same
>> vowel as COT.
>
> I remember a friend jokingly talking about going for coffee using a
> put-on Brooklyn accent and putting the "caught" vowel in the first
> syllable of "coffee." Is this accurate, or would it be the "cot"
> vowel? I'm pretty sure in England it would be the "cot" vowel (sigh,
> oh for the ability to use IPA in these messages), but that doesn't
> mean for certain it would be so elsewhere.
>
> BTW, I lied when I said we don't have the open o. We do, but only
> before i and r.
>
> James Harbeck.
>
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