User talk:AmeGOD

Concerning some of your edits

The cot-caught merger is standard in Canadian English, and many dialects of Scottish and Irish English as well. There is no reason to consider it a phenomenon of the US. And only 40% of Americans have the merger, it is only standard in certain parts of the country.

And the symbol used to transcribe the vowel is not "ɒ", but "ɔ".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot-caught_merger#Cot-caught_merger

"The symbols traditionally used to transcribe the vowels in the words cot and caught as spoken in American English are /ɑ/ and /ɔ/, respectively, although their precise phonetic values may vary, as does the phonetic value of the merged vowel in the regions where the merger occurs."--Dezzie 12:43, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

• The professor who discovered the caught-cot merger, Labov, stated that about 40% of Americans have it, which is already pretty significant, but that is according to the 1996 survey. 10 years later, in an NPR interview, Mr.Labov said that, quote: "Half of this country has a merger of the word classes, cot, caught, don, dawn, hock, hawk...," which is very plausible considering that mergers keep spreading and that 10 years are plenty of time. So you can't really call the caught-cot merger a minor feature anymore.

• Second, regarding /ɔ/ and /ɒ/, I think it is pretty clear that nowadays few Americans use /ɔ/ outside some New England areas. Even an amateur linguist should be able to hear that the vowel in British English "law" is very different from the average, non caught-cot merged American English "law." No, British english is /lɔ:/, American english is /lɒ:/, or, to be exact, /lɒ:(ə)/. I can't think of an American dictionary (by an American publisher) that uses IPA but doesn't use either /ɒ/ or /ɑ/, --AmeGOD 13:53, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

  We use /ɒ/. Not my decision, we just do. Mglovesfun (talk) 15:13, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

  You mean you use /ɔ/? I'm sorry but using an international alphabet and then using the wrong symbol just out of habit is wrong.--AmeGOD 15:20, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

  I don't really care to be honest, isn't consistency worth it? Bear in mind etymologies and pronunciations cause the most arguments, probably because evidence doesn't really come in to it. You can't 'prove' or 'disprove' either of them. I supposrt using /ɒ/ merely because we already use it a lot. Mglovesfun (talk) 15:23, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

  I'm sorry, I don't understand. Do you mean using /ɔ/ for American English? I'm arguing that using /ɒ/, and then /ɑ/ as an alternate pronunciation would be better.--AmeGOD 15:26, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

  I think you're looking for something that's not there; I'm not disagreeing with either of you, merely adding a third opinion which will hopefully stop the discussion getting blocked. Mglovesfun (talk) 15:46, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

  Alright. --AmeGOD 15:50, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

  I replied to your comments in the Beer Parlor.--Dezzie 14:42, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

That page got a little too crowded, I will take it here if you don't mind. I would be fine with *(North American), (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /bɑ(ː)t/, (US) often IPA^(key): /bɔ(ː)t/, /bɒ(ː)t/ if the cot-caught merger were unique to North America, but since it isn't, I find it a bit misleading. So do we both agree with:

• (US) IPA^(key): /bɔ(ː)t/, /bɒ(ː)t/
• (cot–caught merger), (US), (Canada) IPA^(key): /bɑ(ː)t/?--Dezzie 17:53, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes, alright.--AmeGOD 18:03, 22 December 2010 (UTC)