Re: More ...

["Burke,Carl D." <cburke@mitre.org>]

>From: Christopher Reid Palmer <reid@pconline.com>
>
>C.D.Wright@solipsys.compulink.co.uk wrote:
...
>> Hmm.  My "top" is as in
>> 
>>     "octet", "October", "off", "on", "conscious"
>>       "ostensibly", "long", "monster" ...
>
>Yep -- for me, 'off' and 'on' have rounded low-mid back vowels, while
>the others you list have /a/, a low, mid-back vowel. Your having a
>single vowel for all (presumably the lax /O/, my 'off') is what I hear
>as a big part of RP.

As another data point, of perhaps little interest, "off" and "long"
have the same vowel sound, different from "top" and the rest of that
list and more prototypically "O"-like to my ear; "off" and "on" do not
share the same vowel sound in my dialect.  The sound in "on" is closer
to what the dentist says when he tells you to "open your mouth and
say 'Ah'", whereas the sound in "off" is closer to "awful".  For a true
"O" sound, though, you need the first vowel in "odor".

But then, I'm an American, so what can you expect?  :)

--
Carl Burke
cburke@mitre.org