Date: Tue, 24 Jan 1995 09:10:40 EST From: Wayne Glowka Subject: Re: poor and pour (was Re: TV and dialect) >But I'm confused as to the link with Merry, Mary, marry: may be something >more general is going on before /r/ even when it hasn't been dropped. Do >dialects which do this tense the vowel, I wonder? > >If people are interested, I can describe what's happening in England as well! > >Maik Gibson >University of Reading I seem to hear this distinction among non-rhotic speakers ( and children of non-rhotic speakers--students often say their r's around me, a non-native in Central Georgia, so I can't tell what the students are at home). A clue to the distinction is the inclusion of the /r/ with the following syllable, not the preceding vowel. Ma + ry, etc. Similarly, non-rhotic speakers here divide /po[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/ into something like /po/ + /w[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]/. The result has two syllables. Wayne Glowka Professor of English Director of Research and Graduate Student Services Georgia College Milledgeville, GA 31061 912-453-4222 wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]gc3.gac.peachnet.edu BITNET Address: Wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]USCN