isoglosses for hw/w

[Matthew Gordon]

The ANAE found most Californians (in their sample) do preserve the
distinction between /I/ and /E/ before nasals. This was the case for 5 of
their 6 Bay Area speakers and all 7 of their white speakers from Southern
California. See their Map 9-5, p. 68.

-Matt Gordon


On 1/29/08 10:37 AM, "Benjamin Barrett" <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM> wrote:

> I missed most of this thread, but the statement that "hem" and "him"
> are not distinguished in California seemed amazing to me.
>
> I lived in the Bay Area for a little more than three years and never
> noticed this merger. It's possible that I missed it (when I lived
> there, other pronunciations were pointed out to me that I had
> missed), but I don't think I would miss that one. One impression I
> had in California, for example, was that some people born and raised
> in California have the cot-caught merger and others do not. Also,
> California is a big place with a lot of recent migration.
>
> Could it be that "hem" and "him" is distinguished by some people in
> California or at least in some regions, or is it truly unknown anywhere?
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> a cyberbreath for language life
> livinglanguages.wordpress.com
>
> On Jan 29, 2008, at 7:29 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> At 10:13 AM -0500 1/29/08, David Bowie wrote:
>>> From:    Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>>
>>>> If North Midland distinguishes between, e.g. "hem, ten" and "him,
>>>> tin," a distinction unknown in California, then U.S. West can't
>>>> possibly be what happened when North Midland expanded westward.
>>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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