isoglosses for hw/w

[sagehen]

on 1/29/08 11:37 AM, Benjamin Barrett at 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.
~~~~~~~~~
I too lived in the Bay Area -- in my case, for ten years -- & don't recall
this merger as widely characteristic.   While a lot of my contacts were in
the academic community, I worked at a variety of jobs, blue-, pink- & white-
collar, around the Bay Area & dealt with a fair cross section of the
population.
AM

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