Cot Caught merger spreading

Milton   Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:22 pm GMT
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


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Also, note an increasing number of Native NYorkers who use standard Western accents, for example Lady Gaga...
Cot Caught Merged Guy   Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:19 pm GMT
This is indeed great news!
Antimooner K. T.   Wed Nov 25, 2009 12:53 am GMT
Yes, it is. People will stop correcting me in the South.
cnalbisham   Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:10 am GMT
<<This is indeed great news! >>

Soon, Long Islanders won't complain when I pronounce "Montauk Point" as "Monn+tock Point".
JeffinNYC   Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:37 pm GMT
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.
Danica   Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:54 pm GMT
I've heard ALL pronounced as [Al] (yep, unrounded vowel) in the South even in people with no c/c merger.