OT: pronunciation

[Simon Biber]

No: HPFGUIDX 9037

> > Forks and Fawkes are homophones, at least in my dialect
> > (Australian). Would you pronounce them differently?
>
> Yup.  In my dialect of US English, they're quite different.  For one
> thing, the "r" in "Forks" is voiced.  For another, the "aw"
> in "Fawkes" is said the way you'd lean over a baby:  "Awwww..."
> The "o" in "Forks"--well, how can I describe it to someone who
> pronounces vowels differently?  (Linguists have a notation to deal
> with this but I don't know it!)  It's somewhere in between
> that "awwww" and a long "o" as in "bone."

Sorry -- your description wasn't very useful in allowing me to understand
what sound you make. You say the 'r' is voiced, does that mean you pronounce
it 'foreks'? To me, the letters 'or' and 'aw' denote the same sound.

> All of which is to say that you and Jim Dale both have much nicer
> accents than mine.

I haven't heard Jim Dale, but I am interested in linguistics.

Simon.