|
|
Cot Caught merger spreading
According to this new article, the low back merger is spreading, and now 30% of Minnesotans are merged:
http://www.acoustics.org/press/158th/esposito.htm --- Also, note an increasing number of Native NYorkers who use standard Western accents, for example Lady Gaga...
<<This is indeed great news! >>
Soon, Long Islanders won't complain when I pronounce "Montauk Point" as "Monn+tock Point".
Over Thanksgiving in northeast Texas with my family, I noticed that some of my younger relatives were mostly merged and even a few of the older relatives had picked up the merger in certain situations, such as before l (in which case the caught sound wins out), and/or in certain words, such as "lon" for lawn.
A couple of observations, based on a week's worth of listening: 1. The individuals with the merger preserve both sounds, but there are minimal pairs only before r (as in part/port). Other than before r the two sounds are strictly allophones, with the cot sound before n, d, and t and the caught sound elsewhere. 2. The individuals with the merger tend to merge other sounds as well, as in sale/sell, pool/pull, and where/wear.
I've heard ALL pronounced as [Al] (yep, unrounded vowel) in the South even in people with no c/c merger.
|