Where is this speaker from?

<<I pronounce them:
melk
vanella
window-si-ull
pillow
silk>>

That's how I pronounce them too and so does my aunt.

<<That's how I pronounce them too and so does my aunt.>>

And some people claim people in the West all talk the same ;) Such claims seem more and more ridiculous with the more phonological phenomena you investigate...

Kirk, which English word did your friend pronounce at the end? is it couch or coach? Do Americans pronounce 'couch' as coach?

>>Kirk, which English word did your friend pronounce at the end? is it couch or coach? Do Americans pronounce 'couch' as coach?<<

It certainly sounded like "coats" to me.
"When we were shopping for um... forrr...coats, for..."

Seattle's right--she said "coats."

<<Do Americans pronounce 'couch' as coach?>>

Nope. "Couch" is something like [k_haUtS] and "coach" is roughly [k_hoUtS] for many Americans.

>>And some people claim people in the West all talk the same ;) Such claims seem more and more ridiculous with the more phonological phenomena you investigate...<<
Yes, and it seems that the Pacific Northwest resembles parts of the Midwest in some ways. I just talked to someone from Minnesota, who had no trace of a different accent. But other parts are completely different: when I talked to someone from Wisconsin, boy, did they have a different accent.

Does anyone have info on a source for the "melk" pronunciation? I asserted to my husband and friends that its origin lies in Scottish immigrants to the American South, which is where part of my family came from (although both parents were born in California; my mom and some sibs say "melk" -- and "vanella" -- while others say "milk"). Anyway, I was soundly laughed at for my wild theory, so I'm looking for academic sources to back it up.
Thanks...

We've talked about this before and it's somewhat unclear where "melk" comes from. However, it's clear that certain forms of the word in Old English had /E/ there. For instance, the Old English verb for "to milk" was "melcan" while the substance was "meoluc" or "milc" according to dialect. It's entirely plausible that while some dialects settled on "milk" for both the noun/verb others settled on "melk" for the noun/verb. "Milk" is the form used in the written language likely because it was the form used in the London area when spelling became more standardized. As I said before, I'm from California and I say "melk," too. However, this doesn't apply to any other "-il" words. I clearly have "elk" for "elk" and "ilk" for "ilk" and I only have "vanilla" and "pillow," not "vanella" or "pellow."

couch
coach
pin
pen
milk
vanilla
pillow

http://download.yousendit.com/C4D8DBC37015A171

I've recorded my pronunciation of the preceding words.
I assume you pronounce them more or less like I do from what you've written, am I correct?
Thanks.

Pretty close! Altho your pronunciation of "pin" and "pen" sounded similar, while mine are different. Anyway, I recorded myself saying that list here:

http://media.putfile.com/Kirknmelk

Kirk,
Yes, I think my pin/pen are very similar even though I make a clear distinction in perception. I think my /E/ is a bit higher than in General American and /I/ is lowered a bit as well. Thus they may sound quite similar to some people, but they are not merged for me at all.

Your coach /koUtS/ sounded as if you had a fronted /oU/ which is more typical in British RP. To me it sounded more like /@U/ than /oU/ or /o/.

Can you guess where I am from?

biggety butt, biggety butt

Well I've been Learning English but still am not Fluent in it perhaps because I am not putting Much of my time Learning it and also i dont have much friends who spaeak in English
But i am very good in Photography ..LOL

Here are some of the pics which i have taken where i stay
http://www.pic27.com/show.php/3602_HongKong1.jpg.html

http://www.pic27.com/show.php/3603_HongKong2.jpg.html

http://www.pic27.com/show.php/3604_HongKong3.jpg.html

http://www.pic27.com/show.php/3605_HongKong4.jpg.html

http://www.pic27.com/show.php/3607_HongKong5.jpg.html

I am a racist. I really hate ALL foreigners who have heavy accent. naes111@aol.com