Since 'Juan' is often pronounced as 'one', this is getting confusing. The standard AmE Anglicized pronunciation of "Juan" has the 'father' vowel (rhyming with "John" in most AmE dialects); Hum. I've

I'm confused by your "help" reference. What I intended to ... AmE dictionary that I have seen. Thanks for the help. To a Southerner, (hEj@lp) is exactly the pronunciation that an AmE dictionay indicates. And it's not necessarily

Yes, but why do American dictionaries choose *my* pronunciation over someone from Alabama, or Massachusetts, or Wisconsin? There are glaring and drastic differences in pronunciation from region to region. There are, certainly. But, as I said

I don't necessarily agree with this. "Dictionaries describe the most *usual* pronunciation"?? What does "most usual" mean? The densest and ... There are a great many people in the South that pronounce "help" as

It seems pretty clear to me that Richard means that ... would prefer to spell as "aw" rather than as "ah". Why he would want to spell it "aw" passes understanding, since he has also implied that "aw" may be

True. But they share at least one thing in common: they're distinct. And I think they share other things in common too. For example, "ah" is never rounded; "ah" is never to the back of "aw". "Ideal" by

True. But they share at least one thing in common: they're distinct. And I think they share other things in common too. For example, "ah" is never rounded; "ah" is never to the back of "aw". and that these

Indeed, that's what we CINCs have been saying all along: your "ah" sounds like "aw" to us. If you say that to me, you say nothing. As a description of a sound, "aw" has no useful meaning. It seems pretty clear to

If I want you to use the vowel of your ... order to accomplish that? What would you suggest I write? Before I made a suggestion, I would want to be persuaded that there was some good reason for you to want me to use a vowel when you don't know

Southern? I'm from Massachusetts, which is nearly as non-Southern as you can get, and I have /E/ in 'be able' "can". In my kind of talk, in the sense you mention, can falls into the "short i" category (Us usage).