(wrt "um") 'erm' Not the same sound at all for me: it's "perm" without the p. I even say both (although 'um' is more likely). Weird. Having a native language other than English, I wonder what is the

In my kind of talk, in the sense you mention, ... clearly, a schwa replaces the vowel. "I k'n gowith you". Do you have the "pin"/"pen" merger? (If so, where are you from?) If youdo, your "kin"

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).

You have a dialect where, say, "bird" is (bV"Id) and ... they say (oIst@) or (V"Ist@), they replace it with (V"rst@). I see. I saw it differently. Using (V) for the vowel in "but," (@) for the vowel in

This I don't understand. What rule do you have in mind which might, when misapplied, lead to "erster" from "oyster"? You have a dialect where, say, "bird" is (bV"Id) and it starts to get ridiculed

"Ersters" is definitely rhoticized in the Fred and Ginger version. I guess I was too tired to waffle, and I suppose it's possible that the Gershwins really did mean something ... they couldn't spell otherwise, something like

Fonzie, might I convince you to help me raise objections to linguists' blithe and insulting decision to use the word "Philadelphia" to refer to the entire Upper Chesapeake pronunciation region? You think I don't know? I tell them

I can't claim that my accent is 'typical' in general, since I am part of the minority that is MINMINM(tm) and BACINTC(tm)(1). (1)"(Be able) can is not (tin) can". By the way, contrary to popular belief, there are those of us

To me American pronunciations of "cot" generally sound either a ... of an American accent has something close to my "cat". I have a typical American accent. When you listen to my pronunciation of "caught" which is the

To me American pronunciations of "cot" generally sound either a ... of an American accent has something close to my "cat". I have a typical American accent. When you listen to my pronunciation of "caught" which is the