Cities in Maryland that non-natives can't pronounce correctly (Silver Spring, Gaithersburg: retired, businesses)

[westsideboy]

Let me put it this way, for me the vowel in both 'hawk' and 'hock' is the short 'o' like in the word 'pot.'

Which of the pair 'hawk" or 'hock' has the same vowel as "pot?" How would you describe the vowel in the other word?

The Western Maryland dialect isn't the same as Baltimore's, but maybe at some time in the past they shared that common trait (the collapse of two separate vowel sounds into one thus erasing what linguists call "a minimal pair.")

Out here in the mountains:

hock = hawk
stock = stalk
talk = tock (as in tic-tock)
walk = wok

[PGC301]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Let me put it this way, for me the vowel in both 'hawk' and 'hock' is the short 'o' like in the word 'pot.'

Which of the pair 'hawk" or 'hock' has the same vowel as "pot?" How would you describe the vowel in the other word?

Hock. The 'aw' in hawk would be pronounced the same as in 'pawn', 'draw', etc

[westsideboy]

You guys have an extra vowel I don't. Pawn, draw, hock, hawk, pot, all the same vowel for me.

I had a friend (Baltimore native) try to show me the difference. I could hear the difference in his vowel production if I really focused in, but could not produce it without feeling like my mouth was being twisted like a pretzel!

[westsideboy]

Here is what I am talking about. I have the merger, sounds like most others in Maryland don't. Makes sense, this map (where the following description is taken from) has only a small portion of Western Maryland in the merger zone. On the east coast, this merger is spreading from Pittsburgh. I guess I am on the leading edge!

http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#SmallMapUnitedStates

The Cot-Caught Merger

You will notice that in the most of the area on this map people pronounce “cot” and “caught” the same, the areas with either single or double hatching. However, much of this area is sparsely populated, so actually the majority of speakers in North America pronounce them differently, probably about 50% more[37]. Those of you in the first group may think, “How would they be different?” Or, if you can sometimes hear a difference in other people’s speech, you may say, “How could that be important?” On the other hand, those of you in the second group may be amazed to realize that some people pronounce them the same. That’s the way it is with language: people filter what other people say through their own language filter, and assume that other people pronounce things the way they do, when actually they don’t. Adj. 16-Nov.-2010

When I was living overseas in a community that was made up mostly of Americans and Canadians from various regions, I knew a family in which the father’s name was “Don”, and the daughter’s name was “Dawn”. Guess which group they belonged to! When I would be talking to someone about the family, and would mention that I had recently been chatting with Don, if they belonged to the “merger” group, they would often say, “Do you mean the father or the daughter?” Now, I consistently say those two names differently, but they couldn’t hear the difference! You might say, “Why would those people name their daughter Dawn, knowing the confusion it would cause?” The answer is: It never crossed their minds! To them, the two names were obviously pronounced differently, and it never even occurred to them that anyone would pronounce them the same! And there are plenty of word pairs for which this vowel distinction is the only difference, as the chart to the right shows. So you see, it really does matter! (20-Feb.-2010)

On the other hand, the amazing thing to me is that the “merger” group gets along so well saying all these pairs of words the same! One day my wife and I were talking about farming practices, something I know almost nothing about, and she mentioned that they sometimes use “stocks” of corn to make silage. At least, that’s what I heard her say. I was surprised. “You mean they can’t just feed the corn to the cattle straight?” However, she was actually referring to “stalks” of corn, which never occurred to me, since I heard her say “stocks”. In fact, she says them both the same, so to her, the context should have told me which she meant, not the pronunciation. Go figure! Other similar confusions continue to arise occasionally in our marriage based on this distinction, but each time it takes me a little less time to realize what she meant. 9-Feb.-2010

To see an even more complex system, see The Father-Bother distinction below.

[Banana Child]

I'm still going to call it Mary-land!!

[opalminor]

Wow... you people are picky. Dun-DOCK or Dun-DAWK... really kind of the same thing, isn't it....??
A lot of what you all are saying is 'improper pronunciation' is just the Maryland accent, or more local, regional 'micro-accents'... don'tcha think? Which are actually unique and quite fascinating...

[driverthemills]

La Plata is spanish for the silver, and is pronounced "La Plaah-taah". Because it is pronounced incorrectly by the inhabitants, doesn't mean it is right. Read up on how the area got it's name, instead of just trying to ridicule those of us who bothered to let ourselves to be educated...

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by driverthemills

La Plata is spanish for the silver, and is pronounced "La Plaah-taah". Because it is pronounced incorrectly by the inhabitants, doesn't mean it is right. Read up on how the area got it's name, instead of just trying to ridicule those of us who bothered to let ourselves to be educated...

I suppose you give Havre de Grace the same treatment? You'll get some nice stares there.

[P47P47]

Originally Posted by driverthemills

La Plata is spanish for the silver, and is pronounced "La Plaah-taah". Because it is pronounced incorrectly by the inhabitants, doesn't mean it is right. Read up on how the area got it's name, instead of just trying to ridicule those of us who bothered to let ourselves to be educated...

And "amarillo" means yellow. But I don't think I've ever heard that city in Texas pronounced as "ah-mah-ree-o".

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by ChrisandArdenn

Which cities in Maryland do you notice non-nativesor out-of-state media continually butcher, over and over again?

Which cities in Maryland do natives even seem to pronounce incorrectly?

The correct way to pronounce a city's name is grammatical, not what some locals insist it on being. I have lived all over the U.S. and am tired of people from the East Coast/Northeast insisting that the proper pronounciacion is this or that, in particular when that pronouncian is based on a local dialect/accent with the one and only exception being those from Maine and Massachusetts....seeing as how they were here first (aside from the natives, of course).

Perhaps this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but how are people from away supposed to know to drop and/or merge multiple letters?