ont/ahnt (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Paul Johnston]

Dan,
You come from farther north in the Hudson Valley than I do--I merge them, as (pace Wells) people from New York City would.  I wonder if your area doesn't connect with New England in this regard, and wonder if people in the Albany/Troy/Schenectady area would distinguish them, too. (in other words, how far west does rounded LOT go?)

Paul Johnston
On Oct 6, 2010, at 1:26 PM, Dan Goodman wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goodman <dsgood at IPHOUSE.COM>
> Subject:      Re: ont/ahnt (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> David Wake wrote:
>> Wikipedia has an article on the 'father-bother merger":
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_low_back_vowels#Father-bother_merger
>>
>> According to Wells, it's only in Newfoundland, Eastern New England and
>> (partly) New York City that they are distinguished within North
>> America.  Outside North America (including the Caribbean) they are
>> distinguished by all native accents of English.
>
> I distinguish them, and I'm not from any of those regions.  It's
> possible that the Hudson Valley Dialect has undergone that change since
> my childhood.  (1950s, Ulster County NY.)
>
>
> --
> Dan Goodman
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