Salt

Josh Lalonde   Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:52 pm GMT
How does everyone pronounce this word? (Also put where you're from please).
SpaceFlight   Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:56 pm GMT
/sAlt/. Is there really much variation in the pronunciation of this word phonemically, as opposed to phonetically?
Josh Lalonde   Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:58 pm GMT
I was mostly wondering if anyone pronounced it /sOlt/. I read that in Wales, it's /sQlt/
Travis   Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:40 pm GMT
I myself pronounce "salt" as [sQU?] or, in phonemic notation, as /sQlt/ (corresponding to historical /sOlt/).
Josh Lalonde   Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:48 pm GMT
Do any cot-caught unmerged accents have /sAlt/? Does the sequence /Al/ even exist in c-c unmerged accents?
Travis   Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:10 pm GMT
>>Do any cot-caught unmerged accents have /sAlt/? Does the sequence /Al/ even exist in c-c unmerged accents?<<

My dialect does not have /A/, but its closest analogue /a/ does exist in the sequence /al/ in my dialect. That said, though, this sequence only exists in a stable form with a consistent [a] in open syllables and said /a/ is normally shifted to [Q] or [A] (which exist in free variation, but with the former being preferred more consistently in more informal speech) when it falls in closed syllables.
Travis   Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:13 pm GMT
That said, most instances of /al/ are either from historical /Ql/ or from loanwords or newer coinages, as historical /al/'s being shifted to /O:l/ is consistently reflected as /Ql/ in my dialect (aside, of course, from the cases where it was not shifted in such a fashion but rather became /{l/).
Josh Lalonde   Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:54 pm GMT
I was really thinking of closed syllables; I should have mentioned that above. So I suppose you have /al/ in, for example, 'Colorado'. What do you have in 'Albany'?
Travis   Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:57 pm GMT
I myself pronounce "Albany" as ["Q:Ub@~:ni:].
Sarcastic Californian   Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:07 pm GMT
<<<<<How does everyone pronounce this word? (Also put where you're from please).>>>>>

"Sault" would be how I pronounce "salt". I'm from California, in case you missed the "californian" part of my username...
Sarcastic Northwesterner   Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:39 pm GMT
[sAlt] or [sOlt].
RedFox   Fri Mar 09, 2007 11:49 pm GMT
"salt" - /sAUlt/
Stephen W.   Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:31 am GMT
I'm from Georgia and I have /sAlt/ for "salt". /sQlt/ and /sOlt/ sound distinctly northern to me.
Doug Pebb   Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:49 am GMT
<<Does the sequence /Al/ even exist in c-c unmerged accents?>>

For me, it does, though it's generally limited to foreign borrowings. For instance, "Dahli" /dA:lI/ clearly contrasts with "dolly" /do:lI/. By the way, "Colorado" is /ko:l@rA:do:/ for me and "salt" is /sO:lt/.
MegaBox   Sat Mar 10, 2007 12:52 am GMT
/sa:/