"awe" phoneme has disappeared

Mon Jan 30 19:49:47 UTC 2012

Thanks Paul.  But I'm afraid you're too optimistic.  My cousin from CT calls her son ~Shaan now instead of ~Shaun (written name is "Shawn") as she used to.  My wife and she both call my other cousin from CT (written name "Paula") Polla ~Paalu now.  It's in the media now.  Everywhere.  My wife's catching it.  Do me a favor and always correct them when they say your name as "Poll" ~Paal insted of "Paul" ~Paul, and I will stand in precious awe of you.

Meanwhile m-w.com is mispronouncing the word "awe" as "ah".  It's all over now.  Even though the symbol is for "awe" the speaker says "ah".

Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk

 > 
> ---------------------- 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: "awe" phoneme has disappeared
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Tom, don't worry about your precious "awe" phoneme--there's been some erosion, but both my native NY/N NJ dialect, and the dialect of the students I teach in W MI preserve it just fine. For me cot = [kat] and caught = [ko at t]. There are plenty just like me, as you must know from your years in NJ, if not CT.
> 
> Paul Johnston
> On Jan 29, 2012, at 10:59 PM, Gordon, Matthew J. wrote:
> 
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: "awe" phoneme has disappeared
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > The discussion in the Atlas of North American English (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2006) suggests the merger of the vowels in LOT and THOUGHT has been widespread across Canada (outside some parts of the Atlantic provinces) for at least several generations and maybe as long as 150 years.
> >
> > -Matt Gordon
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Tom Zurinskas [truespel at HOTMAIL.COM]
> > Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012 9:05 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: "awe" phoneme has disappeared
> >
> > Are you saying that the English phoneme "awe" is not in existance anymore in Canada? You know that for sure?
> >
> > In their Englishaccent.com faq section they say " If you already have no difficulty communicating, then improving your pronunciation is unnecessary, unless you have some strong personal motivation to sound more like a native speaker of American or Canadian English."
> >
> > Looks to me they are saying that the "awe" phoneme does not exist in USA as well. Is this prescriptionistic? They have a niice prograrm here but they are saying that walk is to be pronounced "wok" and that the "awe" phoneme does not exist. This is not right. They need to include it. That would be "awe"some.
> >
> > Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
> > See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
> >
> >
> >>
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster: "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
> >> Subject: Re: "awe" phoneme has disappeared
> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Yes, how dare those Canadians develop a tutorial that accurately describes their phonological inventory!
> >> http://www.englishaccentcoach.com/about.aspx
> >>
> >> ________________________________________
> >> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Tom Zurinskas [truespel at HOTMAIL.COM]
> >> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012 1:26 PM
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >> Subject: "awe" phoneme has disappeared
> >>
> >> It finally happened. The phoneme "awe" (backward c in IPA) has disappeared from US English tutorials.
> >>
> >> http://tinyurl.com/6vfvuvs
> >>
> >> The same phonetic symbol is given for "pot" "walk" and "clock" where each take the "ah" ~aa sound. There is no symbol for the "awe" ~au sound. bye bye.
> >>
> >> Please help save the "awe" phoneme, before it's too late.
> >>
> >> Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
> >> See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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