By Vowels, Pronunciation

This is really badly off topic but I couldn't resist the temptation to comment on your correct observation. I understand very well that native speakers of English mispronounce foreign words because foreign languages are not studied much in English-speaking countries.Well, can you really blame us?...

According to a book on American English pronunciation ('Lesson 12: Central and Back Vowels', page 136. I don't know the name of the book, though), /a/ is the vowel of father, box or calm. However, almost every dictionary out there establishes a difference between /a:/ and /o/, which would be the...

Englishuser wrote:What's interesting is that these changes are led by younger female speakers. Older speakers and male speakers adopt these kind of changes later. Yes, that really is interesting. Why are the changes led by younger female speakers in particular? What about younger male...

Well, it depends on how you pronounce them. For example, you pronounce "go" as

The Western and Central Canadian English dialect does have several differences from conservative General American, although many dialects in the US have some or all of the same features that are found in Western/Central Canadian English. Western/Central Canadian English is actually closer to...

So what's your definition of American English (or North American English, as some prefer)? I would probably define it mostly by its phonology. It would be pretty hard to define. Or why not just say, any dialect of English spoken in North America?Is there a standard for American English?Not...

Hi Marvin, my reaction is: I noticed your particular pronunciation in your previous posts, the way you described your accent was so strange that I had to ask where you were from. You sure have an interesting accent, a lot of mergers and some vowel-shifts, but also a lot of exceptions. I really...

CalifJim wrote:I have heard gulf pronounced only one wayReally? Which way? The Southwesterners that I met tended to pronounce "ul" /@l/ as .

My chart was probably confusing too.General American: bang .

No, I don't speak a Southern dialect or Ebonics. I have a Western accent. I'm from the Tsawwassen peninsula. Not everyone merges all of those words here, but everyone pronounces them at least close. Certain areas in Northern Wisconsin and the Upper peninsula of Michigan as well as some...