Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 15:48:39 -0400

From: "Dale F.Coye" CoyeCFAT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

Subject: waft



I'm gathering evidence among cultivated speakers for the pronunciation of

several literary words, and am finding that waft is overwhelmingly pronounced

WAHFT, but in the South (speakers raised and still living there) it seems to

be the vowel of RAFT. Can anyone from the South speak to this?



Dale Coye

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Princeton, NJ