the dissappearing "awe" sound

[Nathan Sanders]

On Jun 3, 2009, at 3:18 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>
> Have you no problem with changing talk to tock, walk to wok, hawk to
> hock, Dawn to Don etc.?  as awe-dropping does.  Do you think it's a
> great idea?  Is it an improvement?  Do you promote it?

Have you no problem with changing maid to made, gait to gate, tail to
tale, plain to plane, etc.?  Do you think it's a great idea?  Is it an
improvement?  Do you promote it?

How about tow to toe, rowed to rode, soul to sole, grown to groan, etc.?

How about sea to see, meat to meet, heal to heel, team to teem, etc.?

Given how vocally desperate you are to prevent the pane and confusion
sure to result from completion of the cot-caught merger, I have know
doubt your ideological twin from about 1650 had quite a problem with
"ai-dropping", "ow-dropping", and "ea-dropping", since these changes
cause(d) the loss of THREE phonemes, not just one.  But you seam not
to care about these three mergers at all, and I find that quite awed.

Nathan

--
Nathan Sanders
Linguistics Program
Williams College
http://wso.williams.edu/~nsanders/

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