How do you pronounce the word "always"? I've noticed that most Northwesterners pronounce it "ahweez", while most people that I've met from California and Arizona tended to use a different vowel sound--it sounded to me something like [o], but I'm not exactly sure. Is there an isogloss for these two pronunciations? Are there any other pronunciations?
Pronunciation of "always"
I have a friend from Santa Cruz, CA and she says it with the open o but I just assumed it was because her dad's from England. I typically use the ah sound.
Californian pronunciation is ['Alwejz, 'AlwIz or 'Alw@z]...with the ah sound (ah [A] as in: cot, caught, Don, Dawn, hottie, haughty, hot dog, tall doll...)
1. some people have silent L: ['Awejz, 'Awiz, 'Aw@z]
2. some people have [Q] for /A/ (because of dark L influence and /or Californian shift)
1. some people have silent L: ['Awejz, 'Awiz, 'Aw@z]
2. some people have [Q] for /A/ (because of dark L influence and /or Californian shift)
G. Stefani has [A] in ALWAYS in the song ''Don't speak'' ;)
She's from Orange County, CA.
Dark L can affect the pronunciation of preceding sounds in many regions, so in the West TALL rhymes with DOLL, both have either /A/ or /Q/...in many parts of East Coast (excluding Boston) TALL and DOLL don't rhyme...
[@]+ [L] can sound like /Ql/ too: culture, pulse...
that ''L'' influence is very interesting, the same people from the West who have [Q] in TALL, CALL have [A] in TALLER, CALLER...go figure!
in the CCmerged accents [Q] is an allophone of /A/ and not vice versa...
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GOLF can be either [gAlf] or [gQlf]...I don't know if it would be convenient to draw the geographical distribution map or not...I think many people use /A/ and /Q/ interchangeably, especially those coming from CC merged areas.
She's from Orange County, CA.
Dark L can affect the pronunciation of preceding sounds in many regions, so in the West TALL rhymes with DOLL, both have either /A/ or /Q/...in many parts of East Coast (excluding Boston) TALL and DOLL don't rhyme...
[@]+ [L] can sound like /Ql/ too: culture, pulse...
that ''L'' influence is very interesting, the same people from the West who have [Q] in TALL, CALL have [A] in TALLER, CALLER...go figure!
in the CCmerged accents [Q] is an allophone of /A/ and not vice versa...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOLF can be either [gAlf] or [gQlf]...I don't know if it would be convenient to draw the geographical distribution map or not...I think many people use /A/ and /Q/ interchangeably, especially those coming from CC merged areas.
>> I pronounce "always" ["Q:5weIz]. <<
Very interesting. I would only pronounce it like that in very careful spelling pronunciation.
Very interesting. I would only pronounce it like that in very careful spelling pronunciation.
I normally pronounce "always" as ["Q:we:s], only pronouncing it as ["Q:Uwe:s] in rather careful speech (and such is likely a spelling pronunciation).