Thicknesse: Question on Pronunciation - All and Oil in Texas

[Jen Reese]

Steve:
> If you are ever in Texas, ask a native speaker to
> say these two words - ALL and OIL. They both sound
> the same to an outsider, but Texans can tell the
> difference. Next ask them to say - SEX and SAX, 
> again, the same to an outsider, but distinctly 
> different to a Texan. 
> 
> "Why don't you ALL come to Texan and we'll ALL each
> other up and have SAX while my friend watches and
> plays his SAX."
> 
> To a Texan, that makes sense.
> 
> I say technically there is a subtle difference between
> Serious and Sirius, but from the perspective of 
> common everyday speech, they are essentially the same.
> 
> British - glacier - glah-see-ear
> 
> American - glacier - glay-shear
> 
> Lots of talking...said nothing.


Jen: I realized no Texan has weighed in to dispute your claim. ;)  As 
usual, the relativity of accents depends on the area and personal 
influences.  I spent 18 years growing up in the 'all' town of Midland 
b/c my Dad was in the business, yet say the word 'oil' unless I'm 
putting on the sometimes thick accent of the area.  My Dad was from 
Florida and my Mom from N. Texas so neither spoke with a W. Texas 
accent.  We kids followed suit to a certain extent even though we 
have more of a drawl than either of my parents. 

Of course, I may be kidding myself and someone living in another area 
wouldn't be able to tell the difference between my 'oil' and 'all' 
even though they sound completely different when I say them in my 
head. <g>

Texas is a peculiar state in that accents are greatly influenced by 
neighboring areas as much as the rest of the state (most likely due 
to size).  For example, E. Texans tend to sound more Southern to my 
ear than other Texans, and when I lived in Corpus Christi on the Gulf 
coast, the accent is very much influenced by Spanish language in 
terms of phonology (think that's the correct term for how words sound 
as they're spoken: the pattern, rate, inflection, etc.)

Jen, who thinks mary, merry and marry sound exactly the same when she 
says them aloud.