PAWS, PAUSE, AND PORES

Guest372   Sat Nov 12, 2005 4:44 am GMT
I know that all three of the above words are pronounced the same in RP. I know that "pores" is pronounced differently from the other two in GAE. My question is this: Are "paws" and "pause" pronounced the same in GAE. I'm pretty sure they are but there may be some people who pronounce them differently.
Travis   Sat Nov 12, 2005 4:50 am GMT
I pronounce these as (using X-SAMPA):

"paws" : /pOz/ -> [p_hO:z] or [p_hO:z_0]
"pause" : /pOz/ -> [p_hO:z] or [p_hO:z_0]
"pores" : /porz/ -> [p_ho:r\z] or [p_ho:r\z_0]

As you can see, in my dialect of North American English, "paws" and "pauses" are homophonic, but "pores" differs from them. Note though that most NAE dialects in the US will have /O/ in "pores" where my dialect has /o/.
Tiffany   Sat Nov 12, 2005 5:24 am GMT
"Paws" and "Pause" are pronounced the same in my dialect (Miami, Florida). I'm not sure it is GAE, but it sounds like it to me :)
Brennus   Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:04 am GMT
Travis and Tifffany are right regarding most American English pronunciations.

However, I suspect that New York English , or at least some varieties of New York English pronounce all three words differently with the aw in 'paws' sounding more like the aw in 'awful.' However, I don't live there. This is just a hunch based on radio and television broadcasts I've heard from there.
Travis   Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:14 am GMT
Slight correction: when I wrote "'pauses'" above I meant "'pause'".
Kirk   Sat Nov 12, 2005 9:02 am GMT
I pronounce "pores" as [p_hOr\z], and "pause"/"paws"/"pas" (as in plural of "pa") as [p_hA:z]
Rick Johnson   Sat Nov 12, 2005 12:23 pm GMT
I pronouce all three slightly differently. "Pause" is an open sound where as I would slightly sound the w in "paws" in the same way that "flour' and "flower" should be pronounced differently. I would sound the "r" in pore, but I would not place any stress on it. Many people locally (NW of England) would give "pore" its full weight and then some.......porrrrre.
Rick Johnson   Sat Nov 12, 2005 12:25 pm GMT
above...

I meant pores where I said pore.
Lazar   Sat Nov 12, 2005 1:12 pm GMT
"Paws" and "pause" sound the same for me, but "pores" is different:

paws - [pQz]
pause - [pQz]
pores - [pOr\z]

"Pas" is also different for me:

pas - [pAz]
Tiffany   Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:25 pm GMT
Yes, maybe proncing "pas"the same is a feature of Californian English? I pronounce "pas" differently than "paws" and "pause". I'll be sure to ask some of friends from around here (I live in the Bay Area) to pronounce the three.
Lazar   Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:34 pm GMT
<<Yes, maybe proncing "pas"the same is a feature of Californian English?>>

Most Californians (except those living in the San Francisco area) have the cot-caught merger, so they would pronounce "pas", "paws", and "pause" all as [pAz].

(To be really nitpicky, they have the cot-caught merger on top of the father-bother merger. Many New Englanders, like me, have the cot-caught merger *without* the father-bother merger, so we still pronounce "pas" differently from "paws" and "pause".)
Kirk   Sat Nov 12, 2005 8:36 pm GMT
<<Most Californians (except those living in the San Francisco area) have the cot-caught merger, so they would pronounce "pas", "paws", and "pause" all as [pAz].>>

Yes, and even those in the city limits of San Francisco are commonly "cot-caught" merged there these days. The SF Bay Area (anything outside the SF city limits like Palo Alto, San Jose, Milpitas, Dublin, San Rafael, Vallejo, etc.) is entirely "cot-caught" merged like the rest of the state and the West.

Another homophonous pair would be "la" (as in do re mi fa so la ti do) and "law," which I pronounce exactly the same. There's no "lause" but there is a "clause" so "las/laws/(c)lause" I pronounce with the same vowel.
Tiffany   Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:20 pm GMT
Well, I have both the cot-caught merger and the father-bother merger (I think), but I still pronounced "pas" differently from "paws" or "pause". However, I pronounce both "paws" and "pause" with a long "a" sound, while "pas" has a short a sound.

"la" as in "do re mi" rhymes with "law", but I do not automatically put a long "a" after a consonant. Thus "pas" (this is not actually a word, is it?) has a short "a" in it, like the word "pass", although in "pas" the lone "s" is rendered a "z" sound by me automatically.

"proncing" = "pronouncing" - typo.
Lazar   Sun Nov 13, 2005 12:45 am GMT
<<"la" as in "do re mi" rhymes with "law", but I do not automatically put a long "a" after a consonant. Thus "pas" (this is not actually a word, is it?) has a short "a" in it, like the word "pass", although in "pas" the lone "s" is rendered a "z" sound by me automatically.>>

Sorry, I think you're misunderstanding what we mean by "pas". We mean "pas" as in the plural of "pa". I'm assuming that "pa" has the same long-a sound as in "la", "law", or "paw" for you, right?
Guest   Sun Nov 13, 2005 1:26 am GMT
<<There's no "lause" but there is a "clause" so "las/laws/(c)lause" I pronounce with the same vowel.>>

What about the vowel in "loss"? Is there anything left to merge? :-)