I think one of the things that we're missing is the fact that Empty Man is from Augusta, Georgia.
My wife is from Texas....every now and then she still says something that betrays her southern accent......Empty....do you have a Southern Drawl at all....that could be part of the issue.
Just like if you're in a New England state someone pahks their cah...not parks their car....there are quite a bit of regional accents in the US....I have a customer from Georgia, and she has a delightful lilting Southern accent.
FWIW...when I pronounce calm I can hear the l sound. My 2nd year Greek prof said he could hear a difference in an alpha and an omicron (oh no...am I opening another can of worms here?) even though many of the students in the class couldn't hear the difference....I could, but it was a very subtle difference.
Just food for though.
Am I phonetically challenged?
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Am I phonetically challenged?
I'm a native Bostonian, and in most settings, I would say kah(l)m. Light on the "l" but it does not disappear altogether. I've never heard anyone draw out the "a"--we just mangle it until it hurts your ears and you leave us alone....Timothy wrote:
In Boston (Bah-stone) you would draw that 'a' out about four feet to kaaaah-m.
But it is a conscious effort on my part, depending on whom I am with, which is derived from trying not to sound like a townie while an undergraduate at school. I slip often, and there are words I will never be able to pronounce like a newsreader unless I get some heavy duty coaching.
For instance, I hear absolutely no distinction between the word pairs mentioned earlier in the thread: cot--caught, cod--cawed, and collar--caller.
I do recognize the difference between calm/top. That does strike me as southern, which, by "southern," I mean everything south of, oh say, the Massachusetts-Connecticut border.
Cheers,
Lisa
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I grew up on the East Coast and now live here on the left coast, we pronounce calm and top just as EmptyMan described. The vowel sound is almost identical.Kopio wrote:I think one of the things that we're missing is the fact that Empty Man is from Augusta, Georgia.
But we don't pronounce corn the same way.
Sez who?? Do you mean the vowel sound, or the "L" sound? The vowel sounds here are the same sound in my dialect. Calm is a longer vowel, but it's the same quality.Kopio wrote:It may be the difference comes from the pronunciation of 'calm' in a manner similar to 'com' i.e. a calm communist. They should be distinct sounds.
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On this side if the pond those of us who talk Standard Recieived rather than one of the multitudinous regional and frequently delightful flavours of Brit-Eng. certainly pahk our cahs, and try to remain cahm while doing so! .pahks their cah
Also we'd 'tawk' rather than 'tok' (aw as in awsome, and o as in tick-tock [I think we are going to have to ask for a phonetic alphabet font here!])
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Re: Am I phonetically challenged?
And we know there are no other kind, just imposters and wannbees. After 20 years I was still just passing through. 'Least that's what they told me.Lisa wrote:I'm a native Bostonian,...
My ear memory says "Billy Bulger." I can almost hear him still...every 'a' that came out of his mouth.I've never heard anyone draw out the "a"
Effective, it 'tis, too.--we just mangle it until it hurts your ears and you leave us alone....
But you can distinguish when others say CAWT, right?For instance, I hear absolutely no distinction between the word pairs mentioned earlier in the thread: cot--caught, cod--cawed, and collar--caller.
I bet you have that "The World as seen through the eyes of a Bostonian" map?I do recognize the difference between calm/top. That does strike me as southern, which, by "southern," I mean everything south of, oh say, the Massachusetts-Connecticut border.
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