coffin pronunciation

[Tom Zurinskas]

It's an "open o" or "backward c" or whatever other visual description you want to give the IPA symbol for the vowel sound "awe" (which in truespel is ~au).  So it's ~kaufin.  Always has been.  The word "off" has always been ~auf.  "Coffee" has always been ~kaufee.  But not anymore.  The "awe-droppers" refuse to say the sound ~au, and are dropping it out of the American English foenubet.  Not good.

Data show that American folks still prefer ~au at least for "caught" instead of pronouncing it "cot".  But many newscaster in FL are replacing "awe" with "ah".  In fact some say "cloddy" instead of "cloudy".

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.


>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Matthew Gordon
> Subject: coffin pronunciation
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I was listening to a podcast featuring 2 thirty-something New Yorkers. One
> of them pronounced 'coffin' with an open-o, and the other ridiculed him,
> saying something about how it's not 'coughin'.
>
> My question for those of you who maintain the distinction between /a/ and
> open-o: Do you all have /a/ for 'coffin'? I'm wondering whether this is
> another example of a word that varies in its phonemic assignment.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

_________________________________________________________________
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
http://biggestloser.msn.com/

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