Tom criticized the low back merger in his pronouncing dictionaries review:
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunciation-dictionaries-review.htm#summary
''the main AmE pronunciation of words like office, law and dog contains the /ɑ:/ vowel instead of /ɒ:/ or /ɔ:/, even though /ɑ:/ is relatively rare among educated speakers''
It has nothing to due with being ''educated''.
It is a regional thing, and it is prestigious (due to Hollywood, for example Lady Gaga and Brooke Shields have this merger [to unrounded /ɑ:/] even tho' they were born and raised in the NYC.
It is the unrounded pronunciation that is heavy accented / BackEeast-sounding these days, because 80% of Hollywood actors adopt a merged accent.
Even in Greater Lakes Regions (old ''newscaster'' region) most people now have unrounded /ɑ:/ in ''office, law and dog'' (because of the NCVS)
So, vowel roundedness in these words in Modern American English
sticks out as ''NYC/NJ'' thing, not as ''General American''
---
In St. John's NF, Burlington VT, Columbus OH, and most parts west of the Mississippi River most (if not all) speakers have unrounded /ɑ:/ in these words, and in the most parts of the Midwest, Northern Inland Region too (due to NCVS)...Also, many Southerners have this ''unrounded'' pronunciation (Kentucky and Florida are transitionally to fully cot/caught merged). In some words like ALL, ALSO, most Southerners have the unrounded /ɑ:/, even those who have the rounded vowel in ''office, law and dog'' .
Pronunciation is not mathematics, you cannot learn it from a book.
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunciation-dictionaries-review.htm#summary
''the main AmE pronunciation of words like office, law and dog contains the /ɑ:/ vowel instead of /ɒ:/ or /ɔ:/, even though /ɑ:/ is relatively rare among educated speakers''
It has nothing to due with being ''educated''.
It is a regional thing, and it is prestigious (due to Hollywood, for example Lady Gaga and Brooke Shields have this merger [to unrounded /ɑ:/] even tho' they were born and raised in the NYC.
It is the unrounded pronunciation that is heavy accented / BackEeast-sounding these days, because 80% of Hollywood actors adopt a merged accent.
Even in Greater Lakes Regions (old ''newscaster'' region) most people now have unrounded /ɑ:/ in ''office, law and dog'' (because of the NCVS)
So, vowel roundedness in these words in Modern American English
sticks out as ''NYC/NJ'' thing, not as ''General American''
---
In St. John's NF, Burlington VT, Columbus OH, and most parts west of the Mississippi River most (if not all) speakers have unrounded /ɑ:/ in these words, and in the most parts of the Midwest, Northern Inland Region too (due to NCVS)...Also, many Southerners have this ''unrounded'' pronunciation (Kentucky and Florida are transitionally to fully cot/caught merged). In some words like ALL, ALSO, most Southerners have the unrounded /ɑ:/, even those who have the rounded vowel in ''office, law and dog'' .
Pronunciation is not mathematics, you cannot learn it from a book.
