Re: Some transcriptions for AmE

From: Ben Zimmer (bgzimmer_at_midway.uchicago.edu)
Date: 07/14/04 

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:40:36 -0400

"Peter T. Daniels" wrote:
>
> Mxsmanic wrote:
> >
> > What are some broad and narrow transcriptions for "flaw," "call," "all,"
> > etc. in General American English? These don't have the same vowel as
> > "father," do they? It doesn't sound that way, unless the 'l' is
> > coloring the latter vowels. And how should the "aw" sound be
> > transcribed?
>
> The <aw> vowel in these words is transcribed with "open o" ("turned c").
>
> There's no [l] in caw, daw [a bird], haw [hem and], maw, paw, raw, saw,
> taw [a kind of marble], Shaw, thaw.
>
> It's not the same as the <a> in "father."

Except of course for the many speakers in the western US (and
increasingly the eastern US) who have the "cot"/"caught" merger.
Western US speakers merge the vowel to a mid-back unrounded position
(the unmerged "cot/father" vowel). I believe that these western
dialects are among those that are labeled "General American" (though I'm
unsure what features are supposed to distinguish "General American"
other than rhoticity). The late Larry Trask wrote:

        The most conspicuous and readily identifiable American
        accents are those used in the areas which have been
        settled the longest -- the east coast and the south.
        The accents of the rest of the US, the area settled most
        recently and most rapidly, are comparatively homogeneous,
        though noticeable regional differences have begun to
        appear. We apply the label 'General American' to this
        large group of midwestern and western accents.

http://www.linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/archive-most-recent/msg05655.html

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