>I think I know what you mean, though I think I pronounce "awful"
>differently than you do. By "ah" do you mean like the sound in "father"
>(which we probably pronounce the same)?

Yeah, that's what I meant

>For me, "awful" has the same vowel as "awe," "law," and "all" (something
>like /O/).

The "a" in awful and in father are the same to me...

>But I do use the "ah" sound in "father" (that's /A/) in my pronunciation
>of "Nevada," and I've heard your way of saying it but it always sounds
>funny.

No offense, but you're way of saying it sounds stupid to us natives
(believe me, I'm 4th/5th generation Nevadan;) ). ;)

>I suppose I pronounce "Nevada"'s vowels as if it were Spanish, but then
>twist them into English phonology, so the first and last syllables get
>reduced, and it becomes [n@"vA4V]. The word probably did come from
>Spanish, didn't it?

Yeah, means something like snowy or snow-capped....

>I don't know where the /{/ (that's your "Nevada" >vowel, I believe) comes
>from.

Don't ask me; I don't know what /{/ means. ;)

>Then again... though /A/ is perfectly fine to have in a stressed syllable
>and there are many words that have it, it seems people don't like saying
>it in loan words (I'm thinking of "Taliban," which I would say /tAlIbAn/
>but I often hear on the news as /t{lIb{n/).
>
>Josh Roth

Ah, I see.....

>Yes...on Craig Rd halfway between Nellis AFB and North Las Vegas Airport.
>It's great fun for me, I sit out in the back yard when I'm visitng and
>watch the airshow every day: Cessnas, F-16s, Pipers, B-52s...=)

Ah, nifty... I live near McCarran Airport... not near N. LV... ;)

>CNN English is my term for general American English. Like BBC English is
>the generic British English.
>
>---frank

Oh! It all makes sense!! ;)

>Maybe part of the answer is historical. Words imported into English
>through the romance languages, especially French, may show a stronger
>tendency to mute initial h, whereas Germanic words (house, heaven etc) do
>not. Just a quick hypotesis - nothing Earthshattering!
>Mike

That's possible... but why "a history" but "an historical"?

>(...)
>That Nik uses this as a regular feature of his idiolect throws me for a
>loop.
>
>Kou

Not to mention 3 out of 4 people in my house, including myself.... ;)

>Yet, only before unstressed vowels.  I still say "A history".  I think
>part of the reason is that before stressed vowels, my /h/ is pronounced
>with greater force.  Before an unstressed vowel, like "historic", the
>/h/ is very soft, barely there, and is thus not strong enough to force
>"a" to be used.  So, /@ "hIstr=i/ vs. /In (h)Is'torIk/.  That weak /h/
>is ignored in determining the form of the article.
>
>--
>ICQ: 18656696
>AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

That explanation does make sense...
In fact, that's just what I do!

>what about the difference between pronouncing the article "a" as >in
"take" or "a" as in the vowel sound of "monkey"... is it completely
>random and arbitrary or is there some sort of logic behind it... i
>tried saying "a monkey" with both pronounciations and neither one
>sounded better than the other... or am i the only person who
>pronounces it in two different ways...
>
>are you often a monkey?
>~nicole

I pronounce it 2 different ways, too... I think.... not sure how I'd
differentiate between when I use one or the other though..
That's the problem with being a native English speaker... I've never
thought about it!

>I can't speak for you, but for me, /ej/ is used when it's stressed, "I
>saw *a* monkey, not two", and /@/ is for when it's unstressed, "I saw a
>monkey at the zoo"
>
>--
>"There's no such thing as 'cool'.  Everyone's just a big dork or nerd,
>you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." -
>overheard
>ICQ: 18656696
>AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

I think that's part of it for me, too. There's probably other instances,
though.
Where are you from? Just curious...

=====
The Aquamarine Demon
Gesám ayi mozuká. Gesám dohíng mozuká. Gesám adohíng mozuká!

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