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Ask-A-Linguist - Message details
Subject: Different pronunciations of some common words
Question:
What information do you have about the (mis) pronounciations of both as "bolth", and ask as "axe"? I have spent the better part of an hour on the internet trying to get an answer to this question. Thank you so much for your generous assistance.

Reply:
I'll add just a couple of details to Prof. Foster's discussion. As he pointed out, /l/ after a vowel gets velarized, that is, the back of the tongue rises towards the soft palate just as it does for the vowels /ʊ/ "put" and /u/ "boot". In the speech of small children as well as in a a number of American and British dialects, post-vocalic /l/ loses its alveolar articulation, that is, putting the tip of the tongue up to the upper gum ridge. The result is a high back offglide from the preceding vowel, so that "so" and "sole" become nearly identical. Some speakers with this treatment of postvocalic /l/ will also insert /l/ after a back rounded vowel, like the "aw" in "saw," so that they'll say "He's sawling wood," with an intrusive /l/. This is analogous to speakers who insert an /r/ as in pronouncing "Cuba is..." as "Cuber is..." The insertion of /l/ in "bolth" is another example of this intrusive /l/ after a back rounded vowel.

Reply From: Herbert Frederic Stahlke    click here to access email
Date: Oct-13-2009
Other Replies:
  1. Re: Different pronunciations of some common words Nancy J. Frishberg    (Oct-13-2009)
  2. Re: Different pronunciations of some common words Joseph F Foster    (Oct-13-2009)
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