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From: rdd@usa1.com (Aaron J. Dinkin)
Subject: Re: PIN =/= PINK !? (and Lara =/=Laura=/=Lora!)
Message-ID: <rdd-1108961330240001@dmn1-37.usa1.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 13:30:24 -0500
References: <4u996o$bfq@cantuc.canterbury.ac.nz> <rdd-0708960908580001@dmn1-53.usa1.com> <320BBED5.7081@trl.telstra.com.au> <rdd-0908961113500001@dmn1-21.usa1.com> <4ugljp$f0t@cronkite.polaristel.net> <rdd-1008961110180001@dmn1-33.usa1.com> <4uj9qk$mjv@cronkite.polaristel.net> <rdd-1008962122000001@dmn1-31.usa1.com> <4ukr58$r3o@cronkite.polaristel.net>
Lines: 65

In article <4ukr58$r3o@cronkite.polaristel.net>, Odegard@ptel.net (Mark
Odegard) wrote:

> Posted to alt.usage.english & e-mailed.
> On Sat, 10 Aug 1996 21:22:00 -0500 rdd@usa1.com (Aaron J.
> Dinkin) wrote:
> 
> >Well, you see, as I pronounce them, "Laura", "law", and "Lawrence" all
> >have the same vowel - /A/, which is the same even before /r/, whether the
> >/r/ is in "Laura" or "Lawrence". I would expect, in anyone's
> >pronunciation, that "Laura" would just be "law" plus /r@/, regardless of
> >the vowel used in "law" (/A/ or /O/). Is it possible that your mother
> >pronounces "law" - and therefore "Laura" - with /O/ (while your father
> >uses /A/), but you picked up your pronunciation of "law" from him and that
> >of "Laura" from her?
> 
> Most people treat Lawrence/Laurence as homophones, but the
> spellings do reflect two distinct pronunciations (as in Welk and
> Olivier).

Does anyone else here pronounce <aw> and <au> differently?

> The way *I* do it is yet a third, the first syllable somewhere between "lore"
> and "lower". The [A} my father uses in his name is about the only *distinct* 
> [A] I can make in my own speech (I'd do Welk's name as [a]). My father
> distinguishes "marry/mary" from "merry".

Is that a three-way distinction, or only two ways? Do you have three
homophones there?

> [O] and [A] are merged in my speech, very often along with [a].

Do "law" and "lore" have the same vowel? How about "father" and "bother"?

> I avoid transcriptions with [A] and [O] mostly because my mind
> becomes overheated trying to discriminate between them. It's all
> one "aw-ish" vowel, with caught/cot, collar/caller being
> homophones.

This holds for me; I use /A/ in all of them. However, I have the /A/-/O/
distinction eveident before /r/, where <o> becomes /O/ but <aw> and <au>
remain /A/, as in "oral" vs. "aural".

> I probably *do* use [O] before R, and probably, before some L's, as in the
> diphthong of "oil",

How about in "toll"? /O/ or /o/? I distinguish between the two phonemes
with /O/ in "bold" and /o/ in "bowled".

> but before R, I seem to diphthongize [O} into [oV"]. I can manage a pure
> "lore", without a diphthong, but normally, a very small one will always
> be there. With "Lawrence", I break the syllable at the W, with a short
> voiceless breathing to get myself into the R.
> 
> 
> My own name, as I do it, comes out something like /maV"rk/, tho'
> the dipthongization is not as sharp as the representation might
> suggest.

Is it really phonemic, or just allophonic?

I love discussing the low and back vowels - no one agrees on them!

-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom

