# Pronunciation: Aunt



## GenJen54

I am curious about how *my fellow AE speakers* (especially natives) pronounce the word "aunt." 

I happened to have the *local* news on when I heard one of the newscasters pronounce "aunt" with the [aw] sound as in "awe," or "gaunt."

This pronunciation normally would not strike me as odd, except that locally it is generally pronounced "ant," as in "pant" or "can't."

I know that [aw]nt is the preferred pronunciation in AAVE, but this was not an AAVE speaker, so have to assume she comes from another part of the country. 

What is the preferred pronunciation where you are from? How does the other pronunciation sound to you?


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## StrangeAttitude

Not to sound racist (because my wife is black), but I hear a lot of black people say it the way you mentioned.  I say aunt as in ant and my wife and her family say awnt.


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## Kelly B

I usually say ahnt. (I don't speak AAVE). I'll have to pay closer attention to my neighbors, because I'm embarrassed to say that I don't really know which is more common around here. Update later....


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## elroy

My contribution probably won't be helpful, because although I speak American English _like an American_ I'm not actually from the United States, so you can't assign me to a particular region of the country.  For what it's worth, though, I say, and have always said /ant/.


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## mjscott

PacNW, parents from Oklahoma and Massachusettes. Brought up in CA. Pronunciation: ant--as in the teeny-tiny creature that gets into your food on a summer picnic in California.

As with StrangeAttitude, I have noticed my black acquaintances use the _awnt_ pronunciation.


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## KateNicole

I'm almost embarassed to ask this, but what does AAVE mean?

In the Wisconsin-Illinois area, I would say that the vast majority of people say "ant", and I would also say that many dislike or are annoyed when the word is pronounced "awnt".  It sounds "pseudo-elegant" to my ears.  I think that around here the "ahnt" pronunciation is _slightly_ more accepted, but "ant" seems to be the norm.

I, too, have noticed that the "awnt" pronunciation seems to be more common in black people where I am from; however most of my black friends from around here say "ant" anyway.


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## asearchforreason

Central Ohio here.  I say "ant" and so does most everyone else I know.  "awnt" sounds a bit foreign and more formal.


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## lablady

My parents are from Wyoming; I was born in Hawaii and raised in Washington State, Pennsylvania and Ohio.  I have also lived in Wyoming, Utah and now California as an adult.  I say _ant_ (like the insect).

My husband's family, all born and raised in California... all say _ahnt_.  Both my family and his are Caucasian.

It will be interesting to see if some sort of pattern develops as more people contribute.


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## MonsieurAquilone

i say aunt like aren't without the Amercian way of emphasising the 'r'....


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## DaleC

MonsieurAquilone said:
			
		

> i say aunt like aren't without the Amercian way of emphasising the 'r'....


 But where do you come from? This is an issue of dialect geography. 

Lower Delaware Valley: ahnt (I've never heard 'awnt' but maybe that's the New England way?). (West of the Great Plains, 'aw' becomes 'ah', so that 'caught' rhymes with 'cot'.) 

Ahnt is basically eastern United States. Since one member from Ohio says 'ant', while African-Americans, New Englanders, and Delaware Valley people say 'ahnt', this points to the Appalachian Mountains as the dividing line. I'm interested to find out for sure.


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## Joelline

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, I say ANT (just like the teeny creatures), but as many have noted, most of the black people I grew up with said "AWNT." Because of that, I've always associated the "awnt" pronunciation with blacks--or with veddy proper Brits!

P.S. Like KateNicole, I'd love an answer to the question:  what does AAVE mean?


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## Kelly B

AAVE = African American Vernacular English


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## Joelline

Thank you, Kelly B!


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## petereid

This long A is pretty widespread and seems to be spreading
when I was a child in the north of england the usual pronuciation was "ant"
Very few used "ahnt"     (the upwardly hopeful or southerners)
The same for laugh pronounced locally as "laff"  is now being prounced by some as "lahf" 
Now it's being overdone and and people are drinking wine outof "Glahses"


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## DaleC

And Pittsburgh, PA is just slightly west of the Appalachians. 

Foreigners should be aware that African-Americans almost all speak with Southern accents, even those whose families have lived far from the southeast USA ("The South") for generations. So it is not surprising that Joelline would say 'aunt' one way and the local A-A's would say it the other way. 





			
				Joelline said:
			
		

> Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, I say ANT (just like the teeny creatures), but as many have noted, most of the black people I grew up with said "AWNT." Because of that, I've always associated the "awnt" pronunciation with blacks--or with veddy proper Brits!
> 
> P.S. Like KateNicole, I'd love an answer to the question:  what does AAVE mean?


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## SouthJerz

I have always pronounced it 'ant'. I did have one relative that preffered that we call her Awnt Nancy. She was from Kentucky, so there is another instance of it being a southern thing.


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## yuxtapuesta

I agree with the person who said that this awnt thing seems to be spreading!  I say /ant/ and so does my family (who are British) and the only time I've ever heard /awnt/ is from Americans (of various colours) and from the odd friend or two who is from here.


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## petereid

This long A as in "ahnt" for aunt, used to be much centred in and around the english home counties. Usually amongst the landed gentry, who have a tendency to change the pronunciation of words, perhaps to differentiated themselves form the rest of the community. 
Changes in Surname pronounciation are common too.
Chalmondeley to Chomly , Villiers to Villers, Powell to Po-well, etc. are common.
And of course Smith to Smythe  (Smyth was an old spelling for smith, but used the same pronciation) 
Over here the "ahnt" seems to be spreading.


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## jinti

I'm from the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania originally.

I say _ant_, but now that I'm in NYC, I hear _ahnt_ more than _ant_.  It's definitely part of AAVE, but not limited to it.  Of course, NYC is quite a crossroads, with people from all over....

A quick poll of my officemates reveals that:

1.  We don't have too many native speakers of English in my office

2.  Everybody here who is originally from NYC says _ant_, with the exception of the African-Americans, who say _ahnt_ "because ants are those little insects", and my boss, who says _ahnt_ but wonders why he does so, since no one else in his family pronounces it that way.  A further poll of the office attributes my boss' pronunciation phenomenon to psychosis, treatable only by letting us go home early.  He is now teaching us his pronunciation of "no".


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## SarahBeth

I'm from the southern US and my family and a lot of friends say "ant", but my African American friends usually say "awnt".  My friend is from the West coast and she says "awnt" also.


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## Jacob

StrangeAttitude said:
			
		

> Not to sound racist (because my wife is black), but I hear a lot of black people say it the way you mentioned.  I say aunt as in ant and my wife and her family say awnt.



I've noticed that too. The black side of my family says aunt (with awe sound) and the white side of my family says aunt so it sounds like ant.


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## MarcB

Before reading this post I had never heard of AAVE. I have heard many African Americans say awnt but certainly not all. In the general population I mostly hear ant but often awnt as well. Many of the people who say awnt are from the south, but many also say ant. Some New Englanders say awnt but many do not. In my little corner of the world most people say ant but again some say awnt. Since there are many people from other countries where I live most of them, whether native English speakers or not seem to say awnt, again not all. So I would say my findings are not conclusive.


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## rsweet

lablady said:
			
		

> My husband's family, all born and raised in California... all say _ahnt_.



I'm from California and say ant, like the insect.


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## CarolSueC

I grew up in NW Connecticut (mother from western Pennsylvania, father from NW Conn.), and we always used ANT for "Aunt."  However, my niece grew up in southern Conn. with the AHNT pronunciation, so I use that when speaking to her, as in identifying myself in the phone.  I tend to switch back and forth depending on my locale.  I live in the Midwest now and usually hear ANT.


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## CAMullen

Some 50 years ago, "ahnt," "bahth," and "ahss" were commonly heard even in blue-collar speech in Eastern Massachusetts. I still hear "ahnt" quite a but, but not the others.


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## Lizzo76

I think this is an interesting discussion.  I went looking for information about this because last night someone commented on my pronunciation of the word (awnt).  I am currently living in Montreal among people from all over Canada and Europe, and a couple from the midwestern us.  I grew up in Maine and Massachusetts, and both parents are from the Boston area (mother's extended family is from Connecticut and upstate new york.)  A girl from Michigan told me that my pronunciation sounded like "a pretentious New England" way of pronouncing the word.  I had never given much thought to it - it's not pretentious, it's just the way I've always said it, and pretty much all natives of my region use this pronunciation.  I think it's surprising that there seems to be a pattern here of people associating this pronunciation with African-Americans.  Maine is one of the whitest states in the country, and if I heard an African-American pronouncing the word "awnt," I would assume it was because they grew up in my region, not because it was a pronunciation used by the majority of African-Americans.  But it is interesting that people in regions where the pronunciation "ant" is usually used note that African Americans use the other pronunciation.  So... some people think it sounds like "pretentious New England"-speak, and others associate it was AAVE! (Which I am not judging, but it is not something I would equate with pretentious New England-speak.)


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## Lizzo76

CAMullen said:
			
		

> Some 50 years ago, "ahnt," "bahth," and "ahss" were commonly heard even in blue-collar speech in Eastern Massachusetts. I still hear "ahnt" quite a but, but not the others.


 
My relatives in Eastern Mass. still say "bahth," "cahn't," etc.. To me "awnt" (or "ahnt," as you wrote) is the only way to pronounce that word, and most people I come into contact with in that region pronounce it that way. The "bahth," etc. pronuncations are less frequently used, and only one of my parents uses them, so I have made a conscious effort NOT to use them, because I think they do sound pretentious, even though they're just the way my relatives were taught to say those words.


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## Evancito

I was born in Washington State and I say "Aunt" like "Ant". A west coast thing? Who knows...


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## GenJen54

I actually found THIS link which breaks it down regionally.  Very interesting.


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## Evancito

Wow!! Amazing!! What a cool find! Thanks so much for sharing that.


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## lizzeymac

Hi - 
I am from NYC (Manhattan) - I say Ahnt. 

The older members - grandparent generation - of my family say Ahnt.  
They grew up poor in in then-rural Massachussetts, New Jersey, Westchester,  they had lovely diction & spoke & wrote far better English than any of my generation do.  
The Massachussetts French & Irish grandparents & their children said vahse, glahss, etc.  Of course they also say "Ay-uh" instead of "yes" which is very Massachussetts.

My parents/aunts & uncles generation are about 50/50 on Ahnt/Ant. They grew up un suburban New Jersey & Westchester.  

Many of my younger cousins & their children from suburban New Jersey & Long Island say Ant or Awnt- and some say EE-ant - that is as close as I can get to spelling it.
-


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## CarolSueC

I have noticed that here in the Midwest many African American young people refer to an "aunt" as "auntie," pronounced either "AHNtee" or "ahnTEE." I don't think the majority of native Midwesterner speakers of any race distinguish between the "ah" and "aw" sound either, usually using the "ah" for both sounds. I know that they pronounce "Boston" with the "ah" sound, while I use the "aw" sound for the initial "o."


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## la_cavalière

I was raised in Minnesota, and I say "aunt" like "awnt" with the "awe" sound, as did everyone I knew (and no, I'm not African American, and there were very few where I grew up). 

In Missouri, where I live now, everyone says "ant." 

Although I've been here for many years, I REFUSE to say "ant." That sounds absolutely ridiculous to my ears. An "ant" is a small insect. My "aunt" is my mother's sister.

Examples of words beginning with "au" (all have the "aw" sound):
audience
auction
August
audit
Australia
Austria
author
auto
autumn
automatic

I rest my case.


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## PaigeS

I grew up in Louisiana and have lived in Tennessee for 15+ years.  I say ant most of the time but call one of my father's sisters awntie jane just for the fun of it (it sounds fancier to my ears and I do it to tease her).  Many of my Louisiana cousins pronounce it like ain't and I hear that proninciation here in Tennessee as well.  

By the way, I don't think any one pronunciation is more "right" or "correct" than any of the others, nor do any of them sound ridiculous to me.  Just a case of regional variation in pronunciation. But, then I also say "ya'll" .


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## Mariaguadalupe

As Elroy,  I am not originally from the US, however, I speak English as it were my native language.  By the chart GenJen gave us, I should say _ant_, however, the good irish sisters who taught me at school, instilled in us to say _ahnt_ or _awnt_.  I learned English in southern Texas.  I was just telling my sister that it would be interesting if we had acquired an Irish sounding Texan drawl.  I do have to say, that my accent is lacking of any specific region.  Could be attributed that we had teachers from all over the States and some from Ireland and England.  So, let's toss up a coin and see which one rubs off first.  I do have a tendency to acquire accents very easily, which can lead to some embarrassment since those I speak to may think I'm making fun at them!


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## moirag

petereid
-you have left me gorbsmarked! And here was me thinking arl arlong that the modern tendency was to northernness - apparently no-one says "charnce" nowadays! I´ve never met anyone north of Leyburn that says "aren´t" for "aunt" or, God forbid-"glarsses"!


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## TrentinaNE

> To me "awnt" (or "ahnt," as you wrote) is the only way to pronounce that word,


"awnt" and "ahnt" are very different pronunciations.

I grew up in IL saying "ant" but I now say "ahnt" much of the time -- it simply sounds better to me.  "Awnt" sounds strange to my ear, and I can't think of anyone I know who pronounces it that way.

Elizabeth


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## french4beth

Very interesting chart, GenJen!

I am a Connecticut native (supposedly we don't have much of an accent here, but impossible for me to say).

I have heard both 'awnt' and 'ant' and have lived throughout the state; I have lots of relatives in Eastern Massachusetts, near Worcester (which is pronounced 'wuh-stuh', by the way, not 'war-chester') and they used both pronunciations.

My English Canadian friends used to gently mock my pronunciation of 'aunt' (and also the way I pronounced 'egg', but that's another thread entirely...).


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## Sallyb36

when i lived in South England as a child i said Ahnt, but now i live in the North i say Ant.  It's a regional thing.


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## Toepicker

Here in Manchester, North West England, I say Aunty/auntie (ant-ee), and only ever use Aunt if addressing my 'aunties' formally or even to tease them if they are great-aunts! Does everyone else use this familiar term?


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## moirag

Yes,I likewise would never use "Aunt" as an address, or a title, I´d always say my Auntie Joan - and I´m 49, so it´s not just a kiddies´thing. But I would say "She´s my aunt" - not "She´s my auntie", which does sound rather childish. My son, who was born here in Spain, was really confused to hear his English teacher say "aunt" - however she pronounced it - genuinely didn´t identify the word and said, "Excuse me, Miss, but in my family they say antie."  Luckily the teacher knew what this was and explained it to him. By the way, I´m from Newcastle, but I don´t know if it´s a North/South thing.


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## maxiogee

In my family of origin we referred to almost all our aunts as auntie - pronounced _anty_. There was one, however, who was so prim and proper that we gave her a "y", aunty, and modified the pronounciation specially for her to _awnty_.


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## boonognog

I think the dialect maps are interesting, but not necessarily helpful for establishing anything.  For the last hundred years, it has been more typical that a family would move rather than stay where the children grew up.  This has to have a tremendous effect on the pronunciation of words.

I grew up in the Sandhills region of North Carolina.  The prevailing pronunciation by black people there was "ahnt", by quite a large margin.  The majority of white folks pronounced it "ant", but not by as large a margin.

My family all pronounce it "ant".  My parents are from the northern North Carolina mountains and from eastern Kentucky.

Two of my co-workers here who are native Charlotteans (i.e., from Charlotte, NC, just a few hundred miles from where I grew up), both white, pronounce it "ahnt".  But my wife, who grew up just north of Charlotte, and her entire family, all pronounce it "ant".

-Tim


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## Kelly B

Our children call our unrelated-but-closer-than-family female friends "aunties", while the blood relatives are "aunts".


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## shawncita

when we were kids, my parents and we all called our aunts "aints," such as "aint gingie" "aint linda's house" and "aint darlene called again."  my family is from rural Texas, for what this alternative pronunciation is worth.


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## VoogerTown

I pronounce it "ahnt". I once heard someone where someone argued that calling your mother or father's sister an "ant" was disrespectful because it's homophonous with the name of an insect. I wonder why they think that. 

"ant" and "aunt" are not homophones for me.​


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## swyves

Classic BE: ahnt, not homophonous with "ant"


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## Fernita

swyves said:
			
		

> Classic BE: ahnt, not homophonous with "ant"


 
That´s right. In phonetics */a:nt/* almost like *aren´t*


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## zena168

In California I hear people say “ant” but I do see people of a different region who say it like “aren’t” on television.  I believe it’s a regional thing.


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## livenletlive

I live in *Texas* and I am in the minority of those whose pronoune aunt "AWNT". Most people here say aunt as in "ant". I am originally from the north and have pronounced aunt this way for as long as I can remember and most of my family, from Kansas, also pronounce aunt in this way. I see on the internet that aunt pronounced "AWNT" is a New England: Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island pronounciation. I just heard Denis Leary on Jimmy Kimmel tonight say that he is from Massachusetts and there they pronounce aunt as "AWNT".

As for AAEV in the south ... I have never heard aunt pronounced "AWNT". It is "ain't" or "ain't - ee". I hear this same AAEV pronounciation for aunt everywhere I have live - California to Tennessee to Texas.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

I grew up in Flushing, Queens, in New York City.  All of my family and white neighbors, and all of my white co-workers, said "ant", exactly like the insect.

On the other hand, the black women in my office (who grew up in other neighborhoods in NYC) all say "ahnt".

When I was in school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, any local to whom I spoke said "ahnt", although the vowel was subtly different from the way blacks in NYC prnounce it.


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## sound shift

I'm English and know nothing about the isoglosses of the USA, but the word "pretentious" occurs in a few posts within this thread, and I would like to say something about the notion of pretentiousness.

Perhaps those who think long vowels are pretentious would care to explain why a long vowel is intrinsically more pretentious than a short vowel. I am aware that the long vowel in SE English "chance" originated around the year 1600 among the English aristocaracy, in imitation of the nasal vowel of Fr "chance". Socially pretentious people then adopted the new pronunciation, but eventually it became the norm in a swathe of England, even among the poor. Children speak like those around them; a child in Orpington says "ahn't" not out of snobbish intent but because almost everyone around him does so.


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## Heathcliff Huxtable

I'm from Washington state. My family says "awnt." I don't think we're the norm. People often say it sounds pretentious, but those people are clearly beneath me. (Don't let the irony slip by you!)

And by the way, an ant is a little bug which carries things much heavier than its own body weight and which works remarkably well in groups called "colonies." Impressive, but still an insult when referencing my dear aunties.


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## jamesjiao

Ok. I see that no one from NZ has commented on this thread yet. 

In New Zealand (at least from my neighbourhood), people pronounce it like 'ahnt' with a long a /a:/ as in "aren't". Most Europeans and Asians here who don't speak English as their first language also pronounce it as 'ahnt'. This might have been influenced by the local pronunciation.


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## Harry Batt

When Uncle Hartvig got married to Ruth, she could not pronounce her th ezz. She always give her name as "Root." It was difficult to say Ant Root. She got Hartvig to saying Awnt Root. As a consequence the whole town said Awnt for Ruth and ant for the other aunts. After Ruth passed away and Hartvig married Mabel, the whole town went back to calling Hartvig's new wife Ant Mabel as if someone had passed an ordinance.


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## alesbica

As primarily an African-American (I'm also Irish- and Native-American), I know that the pronunciation of "aunt" is *not *necessarily a *Black/non-Black phenomenon*. I have heard both pronunciations from people of all hues. I, personally, pronounce "aunt" like the insect, but I think the other pronunciation should be considered the "correct" one considering the origin of the word (Latin/Old French). 

As with most words not originally stemming from English language, many (not all) people from the U.S. tend to modify and sometimes strip the correct pronunciation from the word and later claim that how _they _say it is the correct way. Examples of these oft-mispronounced words include, "caramel", cities and foods of Spanish-language origin (e.g., "Los Angeles" or "jalapeños"), "provolone", etc.).


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## 65mopar

I was born and raised in Indiana and grew up using the ant pronunciation.
My work involved a lot of travel and I found that in Minnesota and North Dakota the awnt pronunciation is mostly used but Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas the ant pronunciation is used.
The Boston area says awnt and of course the Black people I worked with mostly used the word awnt, I found that the awnt usage is not as prevelant as it used to be.
I also found the the Native American Indians use the awnt pronunciation untill you get into the western states then it reverts to ant.



la_cavalière said:


> I was raised in Minnesota, and I say "aunt" like "awnt" with the "awe" sound, as did everyone I knew (and no, I'm not African American, and there were very few where I grew up).
> 
> In Missouri, where I live now, everyone says "ant."
> 
> Although I've been here for many years, I REFUSE to say "ant." That sounds absolutely ridiculous to my ears. An "ant" is a small insect. My "aunt" is my mother's sister.
> 
> Examples of words beginning with "au" (all have the "aw" sound):
> audience
> auction
> August
> audit
> Australia
> Austria
> author
> auto
> autumn
> automatic
> 
> I rest my case.


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## pob14

CarolSueC said:


> I don't think the majority of native Midwesterner speakers of any race distinguish between the "ah" and "aw" sound either, usually using the "ah" for both sounds. I know that they pronounce "Boston" with the "ah" sound, while I use the "aw" sound for the initial "o."


 
Are you saying that Midwesterners say "Bahst'n", or did I misread this?  I think of that as the _Boston_ pronunciation of Boston; I've never heard anything but "Bawston" in the Midwest.  And I (as a native Chicagoan)certainly distinguish the sounds; "cot" and "caught" have very different sounds!

As to the OP, I'm firmly in the "ant" camp.


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## CarolSueC

That's what I hear from native Hoosiers but not from people transplanted from elsewhere.


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## sandpiperlily

Well if we're collecting data...

I say "aunt" like "audience," "autumn" etc.  I get this from my mom, who was raised in Boston -- it was very unusual to hear this growing up in the Midwest.  Now that I live in the South, I find considerable variation -- a lot of black folks say it like I do, as do a number of white folks, though I can't quite figure out if there's a "rule" for which southerners say it which way.  So far urban / rural, black / white, educated / uneducated, and deep south / upper south don't seem to be reliable predictors.


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## mplsray

sound shift said:


> I'm English and know nothing about the isoglosses of the USA, but the word "pretentious" occurs in a few posts within this thread, and I would like to say something about the notion of pretentiousness.
> 
> Perhaps those who think long vowels are pretentious would care to explain why a long vowel is intrinsically more pretentious than a short vowel. I am aware that the long vowel in SE English "chance" originated around the year 1600 among the English aristocaracy, in imitation of the nasal vowel of Fr "chance". Socially pretentious people then adopted the new pronunciation, but eventually it became the norm in a swathe of England, even among the poor. Children speak like those around them; a child in Orpington says "ahn't" not out of snobbish intent but because almost everyone around him does so.



I would expect that most Americans who would find the "ahnt" pronunciation to be pretentious are limiting that criticism to other Americans, and in particular, people of their region who used to use the "ant" pronunciation but changed to the pronunciation "ahnt." The following cite shows what might have led to this situation:

From the article  "*aunt* ANT (like _ant_)" in _The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide_ by Charles Harrington Elster[1]:



> "The usual vowel of AUNT in the United States is the (a) of _rant,_" says _Random House II_ (1987), "except in New England and eastern Virginia," where AHNT prevails. "Elsewhere, the 'broader' _a_ is chiefly an educated pronunciation, fostered by schools with only partial success ... and is sometimes regarded as an affectation."



That entry, which I found by doing a search of Google Books for 

pretentious aunt ant

has more interesting information about the "ant" versus "ahnt," including Bergen Evans's take on it and sociolinguistic speculation for why it is more common among African-Americans than white Americans and more common in New England than in other parts of the United States.


[1] As I have noted elsewhere in this forum, I often disagree with Elster, but I have no reason to believe he does not accurately quote his sources.


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## alphazip

In Michigan, there's a Black/White divide: Blacks say "awnt", Whites say "ant". In Ontario, it's also just "ant" for Whites, and I'm not sure of the Black pronunciation. (Many Blacks in Canada have Caribbean origins.) 

I've noticed a few other terms (as opposed to pronunciations) that differ from White to Black, at least in Michigan:

White: "Where do you live?"
Black: "Where do you stay?"

White: "Plug in the TV."
Black: "Plug up the TV."

A person crossing the Detroit River from Michigan to Ontario will encounter some immediate differences in pronunciation, and a small number of different terms:

Michigan: foyer
Ontario: foy-yay 

Michigan: vase (rhymes with face)
Ontario: vaahz

Michigan: bathroom
Ontario: washroom 

Both Michiganders and Canadians use the term "pop" for what is called "soda" in other places.


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## jiamajia

I always hear native speakers, especially North Americans pronounce 'ant' and 'aunt' with no difference.

Am I wrong?


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## pops91710

It just depends on where you are from, and who raised you. I hear it both ways. Most commonly I hear it as ant, with no difference.


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## entangledbank

They are the same in North American and northern British accents. In southern England 'aunt' is in the group of /an/ + consonant words that shifted to back [ɑ:] - can't, plant, dance, chance, branch, command, demand, answer etc. For some reason 'ant' didn't undergo this change. So for me _aunt_ is pronounced the same as _aren't_.


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## jiamajia

pops91710 said:


> It just depends on where you are from, and who raised you. I hear it both ways. Most commonly I hear it as ant, with no difference.


 

Good point. The reason I pose this thread is some of my Chinese friends now tend to pronounce words like 'announce' and 'town' as 'annyounce' and 'tyown', with a /y/ involuntarily inserted. They tell me it is a variant. What do you think of it?


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## George French

This UK-EN speaker

ant   *AN t*
aunt *AN t* or *AA nt*

GF..

Where capitals = stress
No phoenitics I'm afraid.


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## George French

jiamajia said:


> Good point. The reason I pose this thread is some of my Chinese friends now tend to pronounce words like 'announce' and 'town' as 'annyounce' and 'tyown', with a /y/ involuntarily inserted. They tell me it is a variant. What do you think of it?


 
*Not* within in my hearing...... But then there are few Chinese speaking English where I am...

GF..


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## pops91710

jiamajia said:


> Good point. The reason I pose this thread is some of my Chinese friends now tend to pronounce words like 'announce' and 'town' as 'annyounce' and 'tyown', with a /y/ involuntarily inserted. They tell me it is a variant. What do you think of it?


 
I am not aware of *any* native English speaker that says it that way. Maybe it is a Chinese fad? Or maybe they are trying to unsuccessfully imitate an Aussie accent or southern accent from the USA?


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## boozer

jiamajia said:


> Good point. The reason I pose this thread is some of my Chinese friends now tend to pronounce words like 'announce' and 'town' as 'annyounce' and 'tyown', with a /y/ involuntarily inserted. They tell me it is a variant. What do you think of it?


Oh, but that is, I think, a North American feature that has little to do with ant/aunt.

It has to do with the diphthong /au/ beginning to sound, for some reason, like /æu/

PS. Well, it probably does have something to do with your example insofar as the long /a:/ in aunt, when shortened, should sound close to the /a/ in /au/


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## pops91710

boozer said:


> Oh, but that is, I think, a North American feature that has little to do with ant/aunt.
> 
> It has to do with the diphthong /au/ beginning to sound, for some reason, like /æu/


 
This is one NA who has never heard of such a thing.


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## Mar Rojo

No difference for me. I'm British English speaker from NW England.


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## boozer

pops91710 said:


> This is one NA who has never heard of such a thing.


Oh, I'm pretty sure you have heard it many times - I've noticed some Americans say /'tæun/ instead of /'taun/.


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## jiamajia

boozer said:


> Oh, I'm pretty sure you have heard it many times - I've noticed some Americans say /'tæun/ instead of /'taun/.


 

Yes, that's exactly what I mean, /'tæun/ your version, in my version 'tyaun'. Quite southern, so to speak.


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## boozer

jiamajia said:


> Yes, that's exactly what I mean, /'tæun/ your version, in my version 'tyaun'. Quite southern, so to speak.


Yes, I guessed that's what you mean, but inserting that /y/ there is confusing - it's an altogether different sound.


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## pops91710

boozer said:


> Oh, I'm pretty sure you have heard it many times - I've noticed some Americans say /'tæun/ instead of /'taun/.


Well now, that's different, isn't it?


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## Hermione Golightly

I very frequently heard 'aunt' pronounced as BE 'aren't' in the USA, but with an even longer 'are' sound, on TV reality shows like Judge Judy and in NYC. I got the strong impression that this was considered a sign of being educated. I found it amusing that people who say ax instead of ask would say aunt in such an affected upper class English way.
I am from the North East of England so I say 'ant', although down south I confess I  slightly modify the 'a' so it isn't quite so northern sounding but still not 'aren't' or should I write aahn't.


Hermione


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## Mrs. Van Dort

According to: http://www.photransedit.com/Online/Text2Phonetics.aspx
In Britisch English:
ant is pronounced : | ænt |
aunt is pronounced : | ɑːnt |
In American English:
ant and aunt are both pronounced : | ˈænt |

According to : http://upodn.com/
ant and aunt are both pronounced : | ænt |

You can hear the prononciation | ænt | in Google Translator.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

entangledbank said:


> They are the same in North American and northern British accents.


 
They are certainly _*not*_ the same in all North American accents.

This topic has been discussed before; we may wish to look here:
<Link no longer required. Threads merged>


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## Oddmania

Hi,

I'm "bumping" this thread up because I was hoping some more American speakers would give their two cents on the subject, in 2015.

I always thought *ænt* (which usually sounds like *eənt *in AmE) was the predominant American pronunciation, as corroborated by the Oxford Learner's Dictionary (which only mentions */ænt/* in AmE, while they usually give plenty of possible pronunciations for other words, such as */ɔːf/* and */ɑːf/* for the word _off_) and also other blogs (such as this one, whose author claims _"The first (ANT) is by far the predominant American pronunciation. The second (AHNT) is common in the Northeast, some Southern dialects, and among African Americans"_).

My college English teacher from the United States once used the word _aunt _and she pronounced it */ahnt/* (or possibly */awnt/*, I'm never really sure because of that _cot-caught_ merger thing!), and I thus automatically assumed (most likely mistakenly) that she was from the Northeast, since this is what most articles seem to imply on the Internet. However, after reading through this thread, I feel like most members pronounce _aunt _either as */ahnt/* or */awnt/*, which I find most interesting!

I haven't given it a thought for a while, but I'm going back to this question after watching an episode of a TV show called _Once Upon A Time_ with my American girlfriend. The show has a very peculiar setting, which might (possibly?) affect the actors' pronunciation of the word. It takes place in a fantasy land with fairy tales characters, but most of them speak with an American accent (think of Disney fairy tales movies, in which most voice actors are American despite the fantasy-Middle Ages setting).

The word _aunt _was pronounced repeatedly by four different actors, and all of them pronounced it */ahnt/* (or maybe */awnt/*, it's still hard for me to make out the difference, but definitely not */ænt/*). I wanted to get this straight, so I looked up al the actors on Wikipedia, and it turns out one is from California, one from Texas, one from Illinois and one from Australia (but still does a perfect American accent).

I thought the fantasy setting might have prompted the actors to "posh up" their accent a little bit, but if it had been so, they would have probably pronounced other words (such as _can't_) the British way, but they don't. It's also a possibility that all four actors "agreed" to stick to one pronunciation, so that the whole dialogue sounds more coherent.

So, would anyone else like to comment on this? I've learned English with American people and media, but since the word _aunt _is a word I hardly ever hear on a regular basis, I always stuck to what US dictionaries suggested. However, I've come to realize that on the few occasions I've heard the word _aunt_, it was hardly ever pronounced */ænt/*, so I've figured I might as well go for the */ɔːnt/–/ɑːnt/* pronunciation.


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## Juhasz

I'd assume the consistent pronunciation of aunt was either coincidence, or that the director (rather than the actors) decided that the displaced inhabitants of that fairy-tale land should all speak with the same accent, or that, since they've been displaced to Maine (I too have a girlfriend who urges me to watch this show), they should speak with a slight New England accent.  

It's possible that the director believed that the /ahnt/ pronunciation would sound more posh, and this explanation is in no way undermined by the actors' normal pronunciation of _can't_.  A British pronunciation of _can't _(which, I'm assuming you take to rhyme with /ahnt/) does not make an American English speaker sound posh; it would make her sound ridiculous.  That is to say, /ahnt/ is a common, if sometimes higher-class, pronunciation of _aunt _in American English, but in no dialect of American English (except the extinct Trans-Atlantic accent) do speakers pronounce _can't_ /cahnt/.


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## london calling

moirag said:


> petereid
> -you have left me gorbsmarked! And here was me thinking arl arlong that the modern tendency was to northernness - apparently no-one says "charnce" nowadays! I´ve never met anyone north of Leyburn that says "aren´t" for "aunt" or, God forbid-"glarsses"!


A 'racist' comment from many years ago. Why God forbid? We say 'ahnt' (and glaaaases) in the south of England and that is Standard Southern British English  pronunciation and is what BE dictionaries all say.

Cambridge Dictionaries: /ɑːnt/
MacMillan: /ɑːnt/
Oxford dictionaries:  /ɑːnt/


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## Oddmania

Juhasz said:


> A British pronunciation of _can't _(which, I'm assuming you take to rhyme with /ahnt/) does not make an American English speaker sound posh; it would make her sound ridiculous.



Thanks, I didn't know that!  The same American college teacher I mentioned earlier once said the word _can't_ the British way (*kɑːnt*) during her class, and frankly I don't know what crossed her mind! When I heard that, my first guess was that she was trying to sound posh and hoped she would get away with it since most of the audience were foreign students with an average level of English. Since then, I've always thought that */kɑːnt/ *was an alternative pronunciation of the word _can't_ that American people sometimes used when they were minding their pronunciation (kind of like _again _pronounced like the verb _to gain_). Now I know it's not a good idea!


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## RM1(SS)

Michigan as a child, Illinois as a teen, and Iowa as an adult (until the Navy took me away from the Midwest).  Everybody I knew said "ant;" I was aware of "ahnt" as a British/New England pronunciation.  Now I use both pronunciations, saying "ahnt" slightly more often than "ant."

Don't think I've ever heard anyone say "awnt."


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## PaulQ

The link to the dialect maps of the USA in #29 is broken - the maps can now be seen at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/dialect-maps_n_3395819.html In amongst them is the map for "aunt."


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## Forero

I would consider "awnt" a very strange way to say _aunt_, since I have never heard that particular pronunciation, but "ahnt" is a fairly common pronunciation, and I have also heard _aunt_ pronounced as "aint" by real people, so Andy Griffith does not sound odd to me when he says "Aint Bea".

My usual pronunciation is "ant", except for my one "ahnt", a physician originally from the Lake District of England. She says "ahnt", "cahnt", etc., and when she says I cahn't, then I shahn't.


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## AmaryllisBunny

I'm from the same place as Forero except, I pronounce "*au*nt" the same way I'd pronounce the "au" in "*au*tumn." I remember why I pronounce it that way too. In elementary school, our teacher told is, you could pronounce "*au*nt" either like the "a" in "*a*nt" or the "awe" in "*awe*some." I didn't think she was like an ant, so I chose awesome. I also pronounce "r*ou*te" like the "ou" in *ou*t instead of  r*oo*t.

Most people I know say "ant."

I don't speak AAVE, but do speak some French  .

Edit: I just spoke with a colleague who pronounces them (aunt/route) the same way.


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## natkretep

I say *ahnt *(IPA /ɑːnt/*) all the time, but it did strike me that despite what dictionaries prescribe as the North American pronunciation many speakers from Canada and the US who I know give it some long vowel, and to my mind closer to my pronunciation. I'm very interested to hear about the variation in North America. 

The other word that I think about if _father_, which I think almost always gets the *ah */ɑː/ vowel in North America. In Northern England, this would be /a/ and in Scots you might get /eː/ as in _eh_.

*Also my vowel for _glass_, _vase, can't_ etc.


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## Oddmania

Forero said:


> I would consider "awnt" a very strange way to say _aunt_, since I have never heard that particular pronunciation, but "ahnt" is a fairly common pronunciation, and I have also heard _aunt_ pronounced as "aint" by real people, so Andy Griffith does not sound odd to me when he says "Aint Bea".


Hi,

I've caught a scene in the show I mentioned earlier, where _aunt _is pronounced by an actress from Illinois. I recorded it and uploaded it here. Does it sound more like _awnt _or _ahnt _to you? My first guess was it was the same sound as in _autumn _or _awe_, just likeAmaryllisBunny described it, but I usually can't hear the difference between the vowels _ah _("cot") and _aw _("caught"), when spoken by someone who still differentiates the sounds.



PaulQ said:


> The link to the dialect maps of the USA in #29 is broken - the maps can now be seen at The Huffington Post. In amongst them is the map for "aunt."


Thank you so much! These maps are quite helpful. The one for the word _aunt_ really suprised me. It looks like almost everyone says _ant_, but the comments here (and my little amount of personal experience) seem to suggest otherwise.


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## Forero

Oddmania said:


> Hi,
> 
> I've caught a scene in the show I mentioned earlier, where _aunt _is pronounced by an actress from Illinois. I recorded it and uploaded it here. Does it sound more like _awnt _or _ahnt _to you? My first guess was it was the same sound as in _autumn _or _awe_, just likeAmaryllisBunny described it, but I usually can't hear the difference between the vowels _ah _("cot") and _aw _("caught"), when spoken by someone who still differentiates the sounds.


I call that "ahnt", with [ɑ], the sound I use for _cot_ and _odd_. For _autumn_ and _awe_ I use [ɒ] (with rounded lips), as in _caught_.

But, depending on where the person is from in Illinois, they may consider [ɑ] to be an "aw" as in "caught" or an "a" as in "ant". Their _r_s tell me they are from in or around Chicago, part of the "Northern Cities Vowel Shift" region, so their "ah" may be an [a], with spread lips. Such _r_s and _ah_s are quite understandable to me, but the "Northern Cities Vowel Shift" makes for a lot of confusion with vowels in general.


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## Oddmania

Forero said:


> I call that "ahnt", with [ɑ], the sound I use for _cot_ and _odd_. For _autumn_ and _awe_ I use [ɒ] (with rounded lips), as in _caught_.
> 
> But, depending on where the person is from in Illinois, they may consider [ɑ] to be an "aw" as in "caught" or an "a" as in "ant". Their _r_s tell me they are from in or around Chicago, part of the "Northern Cities Vowel Shift" region, so their "ah" may be an [a], with spread lips. Such _r_s and _ah_s are quite understandable to me, but the "Northern Cities Vowel Shift" makes for a lot of confusion with vowels in general.



Spot on! This is Jennifer Morrison, who Wikipedia notes was born in Chicago. The slight _r_ right after the vowel sound did throw me off a little. It isn't as 'rhotic' as _aren't_, but it's definitely more so than the British pronunciation of _aunt_. I think it might slightly affect how the vowel is pronounced (just like _law _and _lord _don't exactly sound the same because of the _r_, although the vowel is supposed to be the very same one).

Thanks for your help!


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## RM1(SS)

Oddmania said:


> I've caught a scene in the show I mentioned earlier, where _aunt _is pronounced by an actress from Illinois. I recorded it and uploaded it here. Does it sound more like _awnt _or _ahnt _to you? My first guess was it was the same sound as in _autumn _or _awe_, just likeAmaryllisBunny described it, but I usually can't hear the difference between the vowels _ah _("cot") and _aw _("caught"), when spoken by someone who still differentiates the sounds.


_Ahnt_ - the same vowel that's in _father_ and _bah!_  And _odd_. 


Oddmania said:


> _law _and _lord _don't exactly sound the same because of the _r_, although the vowel is supposed to be the very same one


It is?  Sounds to me more like _l*o*w_ and _lord_ have the same vowel....


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## Forero

Oddmania said:


> Spot on! This is Jennifer Morrison, who Wikipedia notes was born in Chicago. The slight _r_ right after the vowel sound did throw me off a little. It isn't as 'rhotic' as _aren't_, but it's definitely more so than the British pronunciation of _aunt_. I think it might slightly affect how the vowel is pronounced (just like _law _and _lord _don't exactly sound the same because of the _r_, although the vowel is supposed to be the very same one).
> Thanks for your help!


There is a brief schwa sound between the "ah" and the "nt", but no _r_ sound at all in the _aunt_ in your sample. The _r_ I was referring to is the one in _your_, which the speaker pronounces very clearly in a way that almost shouts "I'm from Chicago!".


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## Oddmania

RM1(SS) said:


> It is? Sounds to me more like _l*o*w_ and _lord_ have the same vowel....


I do too think _low _and _lord _sound pretty similar in practice, but the IPA-based transcriptions of the words _l*a*w _and _lord _actually use the very same *[ɔː]* vowel sound_._ I think standard dictionaries simply don't distinguish _between the _*[ɔr]* sound (as in _North _or _born_) and the *[ɔər]* sound (as in _lord, force _or _more_), whose schwa makes it sound very similar to the *[oʊ]* diphthong you hear in _low_, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure this is all due to the _R _sound, though_, _since British speakers with a non-rhotic accent don't distinguish between _flaw/floor, awe/ore, maw/more_, etc.

_


Forero said:



			There is a brief schwa sound between the "ah" and the "nt", but no r sound at all in the aunt in your sample. The r I was referring to is the one in your, which the speaker pronounces very clearly in a way that almost shouts "I'm from Chicago!".
		
Click to expand...

_Oh, my bad, sorry about that_. _I thought I'd heard a slight _r _sound (kind of like some speakers overdo the _ah _sound so much that _hot _almost sounds like _heart_), but I think I really should practice my listening skills.


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## Forero

Oddmania said:


> I do too think _low _and _lord _sound pretty similar in practice, but the IPA-based transcriptions of the words _l*a*w _and _lord _actually use the very same *[ɔː]* vowel sound_._ I think standard dictionaries simply don't distinguish _between the _*[ɔr]* sound (as in _North _or _born_) and the *[ɔər]* sound (as in _lord, force _or _more_), whose schwa makes it sound very similar to the *[oʊ]* diphthong you hear in _low_, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure this is all due to the _R _sound, though_, _since British speakers with a non-rhotic accent don't distinguish between _flaw/floor, awe/ore, maw/more_, etc.
> 
> 
> Oh, my bad, sorry about that_. _I thought I'd heard a slight _r _sound (kind of like some speakers overdo the _ah _sound so much that _hot _almost sounds like _heart_), but I think I really should practice my listening skills.


The sounds in question vary depending on dialect, but I don't think anyone actually uses [ɔː] in _law_ or _lord_. I use [ɒ] in _law_ ([lɒː]) and [o] in _lord_ ([loɚ̯d̚]), so my two sounds are on opposite sides of [ɔ], neither very close to it. Dictionaries traditionally use "aw" or "ô" for both sounds, and I know to pronounce it [o] if followed by _r_ in the same syllable and [ɒ] otherwise. Speakers of other dialects also know how they pronounce _law_ and _lord_, so once they know a dictionary uses, for example, "ɔː" for both sounds, they know to substitute their own _law_ or _lord_ vowel sound(s), wherever that symbol appears.

My "long _o_", as in _low_, is close to [ɔʊ̯] and reduces to something more like [o̝] in some environments. I pronounce both _horse_ and _hoarse_ with the _or_ of _lord_.


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