"warthog" with glottal stop

[Paul Johnston]

Not to worry, Tom.  Where i come from, I'm more likely to be "Poo-al" or "Po-al" and I've answered to that all my life from my relatives.  When I lived overseas, I was in an area where "pal" was really close (and merged where I did my research) and since calling someone you don't know "pal" was really common, I thought a lot of people were talking to me who weren't.

By the way, this -og phenomenon doesn't go along with your merger geographically.  Sure, if there is merger, all -og words participate so that you can't tell what the original pattern was.  But here in the lower Great Lakes, COT and CAUGHT don't merge, but all -og words have the CAUGHT vowel.  I've looked for the spread of incipient merger in my Michigan-born students, but generally, those who have it partially have some influence, parental or otherwise, from merger areas.  My wife (< NE OH) has one parent from N WV, a merger area, and has evolved a pattern where merger happens before -l so that doll, dollar has the same vowel as Paul, caller, .  No one in her family but her brother has that pattern, and he now lives on the border of the North and North Midland, so he has CAUGHT in "on" and words like that too.  But even he and his children distinguish COT and CAUGHT except for these transfers.

<OrV> is interesting too, with lots of lexical variation.  Here, CAUGHT predominates, but the vowel is definitely low.  I have [A] in sorry, sorrow, tomorrow but for me, both the county where I was born (Orange) , and that where i was brought up (Morris) have [O], a mid vowel, and I think this is the usual NW NJ pattern.  My parents, from "the city" (and there's only one back in N NJ), had [A] in all these.

I identify the vowel I have in <OrC> (both Wells's NORTH and FORCE) with CAUGHT (+ /r/).  My students have the same phonetic value as I do, but identify it with their vowel in COAT, which it is definitely not.  It is like pulling hen's teeth to get them to see that [Or] (and [Oi]) is not [or oi] in their speech, because their CAUGHT is so far away from [O].

Paul Johnston
On Jan 15, 2011, at 5:26 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "warthog" with glottal stop
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Paul=2C
> =20
> Yes.  My "dog" is like a Georgian "Go Dawgs" but all other "og" words have =
> "ah" ~aa for the vowel. =20
> =20
> But the awe-dropping trend is very persuasive.  I catch my wife saying "toc=
> k" for "talk" and ~Shaan for "Shawn" among other swaps.  So I "correct" her=
> .  I say "tock"?  "tock"?  Doesn't that go over big.  So watch out.  Your v=
> ery name is in jeopardy of change from ~Paul to ~Paal.  My cousins name has=
> been evolving from Paula ~Paulu to ~Paalu=2C rhymes with Walla Walla by my=
>  wife and my cousins wife.  I wonder if women are more persuaded to do it.=
> Lord knows they talk (tock) more.
> =20
> For "warthog" the glottal works nicely before the pronounced "h".  If the "=
> t" is pronounced as a real ~t=2C then the "h" seems to dissappear and the w=
> ord seems to become war-tog ~wortaag=2C which doesn't seem right unless som=
> e effort is inserted to go from ~t to ~h=2C which is probably too much trou=
> ble for most just for pronunciation sake.
>
>
> Tom Zurinskas=2C from Conn 20 yrs=2C then Tenn 3=2C NJ 33=2C now FL 8.
> Free English-based phonetic converter=2C URL and text =2C at truespel.com
>
>
>
>> =20
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------=
> ------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
>> Subject: Re: "warthog" with glottal stop
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> =20
>> Tom=2C
>> You finally showed a feature that isn't Inland Northern--no=2C not the gl=
> ottal stop at the end of a syllable before a consonant beginning the next o=
> ne=2C which is widely distributed from what I can CAUGHT in all -og words=
> =2C a low-back rounded vowel (sometimes unrounded with the whole CAUGHT cla=
> ss=2C but never merged with the COT vowel). Like me=2C you probably have th=
> e vowel in CAUGHT only in the word dog=3B all other -og items have the vowe=
> l of COT). My Midwestern wife laughs at me for this.
>> =20
>> Paul Johnston
>> =20
>> On Jan 15=2C 2011=2C at 4:24 PM=2C Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>> =20
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------=
> --------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject: Re: "warthog" with glottal stop
>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------=
> --------
>>>
>>> It's glottal stop for me=3D2C ~wor'haag. My history is below in my auto=
> -sign=3D
>>> ature=3D2C which I suggest we all do so we know where we're from as a b=
> ackgro=3D
>>> und to opinions.
>>>
>>> Tom Zurinskas=3D2C from Conn 20 yrs=3D2C then Tenn 3=3D2C NJ 33=3D2C no=
> w FL 8.
>>> Free English-based phonetic converter=3D2C URL and text =3D2C at truesp=
> el.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> =3D20
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header --------------=
> ---=3D
>>> ------
>>>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster: Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
>>>> Subject: "warthog" with glottal stop
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ---=3D
>>> ------
>>>> =3D20
>>>> My son Doug and his friend were playing "Halo Reach" yesterday=3D2C an=
> d kep=3D
>>> t
>>>> talking about some kind of attack vehicle or robot called a warthog. A=
> fte=3D
>>> r
>>>> I'd listened for about half an hour=3D2C there was no doubt: They were
>>>> pronouncing "warthog" as [wOr?hag]=3D2C with /t/ realized as a glottal=
> stop=3D
>>> .
>>>> =3D20
>>>> Later I asked to record Doug saying the word=3D2C which I'd written ou=
> t. He
>>>> reproduced the glottal stop pronunciation. As I was about to record my
>>>> pronunciation=3D2C for later comparison=3D2C he said it again=3D2C thi=
> s time as
>>>> [wOrDag]=3D2C saying that he alternated between that and the earlier o=
> ne
>>>> depending on the situation. To me=3D2C his second pronunciation sounde=
> d eve=3D
>>> n
>>>> weirder=3D2C because it sounded like "war dog".
>>>> =3D20
>>>> My pronunciation has intervocalic flap as well as the [h]: [wOrDhag].
>>>> =3D20
>>>> I grew up in Texas=3D3B live now in central Ohio=3D2C where my sons ha=
> ve live=3D
>>> d all
>>>> their life. What pronunciations have you in other regions or walks of =
> lif=3D
>>> e
>>>> heard or used?
>>>> =3D20
>>>> Neal Whitman
>>>> Email: nwhitman at ameritech.net
>>>> Blog: http://literalminded.wordpress.com
>>>> Twitter: @LiteralMinded
>>>> =3D20
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>> =3D
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> =20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>                                          =
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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