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Tag Archives: cot-caught merger
“Orphan Black’s” House of Dialect Mirrors
I’ve recently been watching Orphan Black, BBC America’s sci-fi mystery about human clones. For reference, here is the guns-sex-and-intrigue-laden preview: The show admittedly has its silly moments, but its lead actor makes up for these. Not only does one woman (Tatiana Maslany) … Continue reading
Canadian Vowels vs. California Vowels
Canadians and Californians share more than a few passing similarities, speech-wise. After all, it didn’t take much suspension of disbelief to buy Canadian Keanu Reeves as a Valley native in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. (L.A. natives would probably disagree … Continue reading
Posted in American English Tagged california accents, Canadian Accents, cot-caught merger, vowel shifts 36 Comments
I’m Hoarably Sorey
Canadians (or those familiar with the Canadian accent), may recognize the weak pun in today’s title: ‘I’m horribly sorry‘ can sound to someone from the UK or elsewhere a bit like ‘I’m hoarably sorey.’ (I’m using ‘hoar’ to be family friendly; … Continue reading
When Free Variation Isn’t So Free
[Ed note: I made two slight edits to an earlier version of this post for purposes of clarity.] Like most people, my pronunciation is inconsistent. Take the word ‘thought,’ for example. I sometimes rhyme this with ‘lot,’ while other times I … Continue reading
Question About the Speech Accent Archive
A recent piece at WAMU profiles the Speech Accent Archive, an online database of accent samples compiled by the George Washington University‘s Linguistics Department. A vast collection of recordings of English speakers around the globe, this eleven-year-old resource is one … Continue reading
Accent Humor: Pittsburghese
Accent humor is often mean-spirited and stereotypical. But I can’t resist sharing this loving parody of the Pittsburghese (created by comedians who grew up in the area): The actors are exaggerating this accent a bit, but the salient features of … Continue reading
Posted in American English Tagged cot-caught merger, Pittsburghese, unusual accents and dialects 31 Comments
The Cot-Caught Merger
One of the major distinctions in American English is something called the Cot-Caught Merger. This is exactly what it sounds like: some dialects merge the sounds in words like cot, lot and Tom with the vowel in caught, paw, and … Continue reading