Re: OT American dialects

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Roger Mills" <romilly@...> wrote:

> David "wtsdv" <liberty@...> wrote:
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>

wrote:

> >
> >> Isn't BTW the pronunciation of <ou> as [&w], not [aw] supposed to
> >> be the trait that traditionally sets Canadian English apart from
> >> American English?
>
> Stereotypically, yes. My own observation, when I had access to

Canadian TV

> some years back, was that [aw]~[&w] were about evenly attested,

possibly a

> register distinction. Present-day Canadians, I suspect, probably

make more

> of an effort not to sound like USA-ites. (Perhaps Glen G. will tell
> us.......:-)) )
>

Actually the observation on Canadian English came from a program on
dialects I heard on my car radio somewhere in the Northern US.

> But I once heard "about" [&'b&wt], almost [&'but], from a
> gas-station kid in Delaware.)

BTW I heard someone (white) in Oklahoma in 1971 address his child as
[bo:] "boy". Where does that form come from?

Torsten