dangers of dialect-LION and LINE

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In the 1970s I collected data in North Carolina and "lion" versus "line" was
one of the test pairs. Subjects generally maintained that they pronounced (and
could hear) a difference, but in fact they were often (to my ear) functional
homophones.

In a message dated 1/23/09 10:50:22 AM, zwicky at STANFORD.EDU writes:


> illustrated here:
>
> http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/dialect-dangerous-to-cats/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>




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