everyone says I sound like I'm from New York because i say "cawfee" instead of "cahhhhhfee." btw I'm now switching to tea.
Caw-fee
At least here, in southeastern/southern Wisconsin (me being from the Milwaukee area but living currently in Madison), the pronunciation /"kOfi/ -> ["k_hO.fi], which is the "cawfee" you speak of, is used rather than the other pronunciation which you mention, which would be /"kAfi/ -> ["k_hA.fi].
One time, when I pronounced coffee the cashier understood coke. What a difference!
I hear people mention CAW-FEE - (Coffee) often as an example of New York pronunciation vs General American. New Yorkers also say something that sounds more like bawl-pawk instead of bAll pARk for "ball park." Yet, people who don't have a 'language ear' scarcely notice these differences, if at all.
At least here, "ball" and "park" do not share the same vowel, whether phonemically or phonetically, the former being /bOl/ -> [bO:5] and the latter being /pArk/ or /p@rk/ (depending on interpretation) -> [p_hVr\k].
Travis,
You live in a speech area which is referred to by some linguists as "Northern Interior"; it extends from eastern Washington State to upstate New York and is the closest thing to Canadian English spoken in the United States. However, the differences between Northern Interior and General American pronunciation are small compared to those of a Southern U.S. Accent.
You live in a speech area which is referred to by some linguists as "Northern Interior"; it extends from eastern Washington State to upstate New York and is the closest thing to Canadian English spoken in the United States. However, the differences between Northern Interior and General American pronunciation are small compared to those of a Southern U.S. Accent.
Bawl pok might be another way to render the approximate sound of the New York pronunciation of "ball park." This is one of the few examples where even the IPA is not perfect. Officially, it has no symbol to represent the New York paleto-velar r sound which is extremely rare in human languages turning up elsewhere I've read only in two Polish dialects and a few South American Indian languages. Some linguists represent it as a barred elonganted velar u.
The sound in "cough" is the same as the first syllable of "coffee" in my dialect.
Tiffany,
It should be pronounced 'cawf" in New York then and I think it is.
Some New Yorkers I've heard even pronounce words like 'power', 'shower' and 'coward' something like "paur, shaur and caurd" leaving out the schwa sound before the r which I think is kind of weird.
It should be pronounced 'cawf" in New York then and I think it is.
Some New Yorkers I've heard even pronounce words like 'power', 'shower' and 'coward' something like "paur, shaur and caurd" leaving out the schwa sound before the r which I think is kind of weird.
Is "cawf" the same sounds as "cough"? I'm not from NY... or anywhere near there.
Is the NY "aw" vowel simply [O]? It sounds like something more unique or there is another sound produced after it.
I'm from New York and for me these are:
coffee - /kOfi/
cough - /kOf/
ball - /bOl/
park - /pA@rk/
Yes, ''cough'' and ''coffee'' share the same vowel sound for me. And yes, ''coffee'' is pronounced as ''cawfee''. I'm surprised that many people say that ''cawfee'' for ''coffee'' is a unique New York pronunciation when it clearly isn't.
coffee - /kOfi/
cough - /kOf/
ball - /bOl/
park - /pA@rk/
Yes, ''cough'' and ''coffee'' share the same vowel sound for me. And yes, ''coffee'' is pronounced as ''cawfee''. I'm surprised that many people say that ''cawfee'' for ''coffee'' is a unique New York pronunciation when it clearly isn't.
I don't think just wayne and Brennus really count as "many people". And yes, it isn't a unique New York pronunciation at all.
<<I don't think just wayne and Brennus really count as "many people".>>
I'm not just talking about wayne and Brennus. Many people have said that ''cawfee'' is a unique New York pronunciation. It's in no way a unique New York pronunciation.
I'm not just talking about wayne and Brennus. Many people have said that ''cawfee'' is a unique New York pronunciation. It's in no way a unique New York pronunciation.