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in CC merged dialects A and Q are allophones of the same vowel, right?
but how to describe/write that vowel...is it /A/ or /Q/?
I guess, since /A/ is the older pronunciation /A/, it would be more appropriate... I think most CCunmerged speakers are ok with /A/ in ''dog, talk, dawn, hawk cawed, calk '' (for them its a West Coast thing...) but /Q/ in ''Don, hottie, pod, cock'' sounds a bit off to them (very dialectal... New England, Canadian or even British). the pronunciation dictionaries /by Wells and Jones/ don't even give the /Q/ pronunciation of words that have /A/ in unmerged General American...
Canadian Oxford dictionary has /Q/ for the stressed vowel in Don, Dawn, father, bother, talk...This pronunciation sounds a bit ValleyGirlish, don't you think? shouldn't CanOXDic be less exclusive and give the /A/ pronunciation too, since it is STILL used by many people?
reviews of some dictionaries:
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
hot: Western General American US pronunciation, IPA, cot caught merged with /A/ as the merged vowel
not hot: Southern US pronunciation of 'lawyer' - with /A/, oldfashioned/regional pronunciation of 'sorry, tomorrow' - with /Q/
Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
hot: General American, IPA, both unmerged /1st entry/ and merged /2nd entry/ - /A/ is the merged vowel
not hot: some alternative/regional pronunciations not included, for exampe bury /b@ri/; 1st pronunciation given is sometimes the EastCoast GA one, sometimes WestCoast GA one, it shoud be more consistent; shifted pronunciations not incuded /either Californian vowel shift or Northern Cities.../
Cambridge Dictionary of American English
hot: General American IPA, unmerged
not hot: where are the merged pronunciations
M-Webster Dic
hot: regional pronunciation of some (less common) words
not hot: alternative/western pronunciation of many words missing - it has caught /kAt/, and dog /dAg/ but not lost /lAst/ or dawn /dAn/; notIPA
Oxford Canadian Dic
hot: IPA
not hot: /Q/ as the only pronunciation of the Father, Cot, Coffee... well, strange...shouldn't the /A/ pronunciation (used in Gage Canadian Dictionary) be given as well?
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I don't understand the point of losing the distinction. I think the only people likely to notice the distinction are those who have it themselves. After all, they only merged in the first place because speakers couldn't hear the difference.
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Hi kef is Oklahoma merged or not?
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It's merged for me, at least. I can hear the distinction, but only after it was brought to my attention.
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