the dissappearing "awe" sound

[Tom Zurinskas]

from an ESL forum posting:

"Note that the "au" (awe) sound is not used by all Americans.  They substitute the lax "o" (ah) sound.  So you don't really need to learn it unless you want to speak like Americans in the eastern part of the country."

Can you believe this advice to English learners.  Life is simpler: One less phoneme to say.  To me this shows the need to stabilize the language.  No more awe-dropping.

I just saw "the Manchurian Candidate" for the first time.  An old movie.  The last word in the movie is Frank Sinatra saying "Shaw".  He says "Shah" ~Shaa.  And he's from NJ, but living out West.  Awe-dropping has been going on for a while.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com
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