galt

I read somewhere that in refined English, there is a distinction between the "o" sound (as in "cot") and the "au" sound (as in "caught"); but modern speakers of English are losing that nuance. I am wondering, what is the proper way to distinguish those phonemes when you speak? When I say "tot," it sounds identical to the word "taught," but apparently they should sound different. Can anyone expalin to me how to distinguish these sounds correctly?

kalibantre

I have no idea how to help you as those words are so different in my head that I can't explain how to make them be. If you get me..sorry.

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~kitty

galt

Cool, you're from the U.K., Kalibantre? Then you must distinguish them much more than American speakers. Yeah, it's kind of difficult to convey precise pronunciation in writing...

kalibantre

I even tried talking in a very bad american accent to see if I could make them sound the same but I just couldn't..

Yeah it's near impossible without using that little code thingum in dictionaries..

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~kitty

galt

Heh, yeah.
British accents sound so cool. Do American accents sound cool to you? Or just weird?

Ben

I pronounce the "aught" in words such as caught, taught, etc. as "awt". I don't really see how 'tot' could be pronounced the same way as 'taught'...

kalibantre

annoying in my lectures. I have an american lectuer who is anooying and the fact she's american is something to blame, just playing...

I don't really notice it when I'm watching tv or a film, untill you silly americans put a brit in there (usually evil I might add) who has a ridiculous accent that very few british people actually have...

I think it's just when its out of the ordinary, I don't think I like a particular acent. In England I'm more attracted to northern accents than southern.. my ex has a mid england accent that I love now but bugged me at first.

And I like some of the new york and some of the southern american accent. (the southern thing will be from watching too much xmen cartoons when I was little. I adored Gambit and Rogue...)

It does make me laugh how Americans find British accents so cool..

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~kitty

galt

Yeah, but you're from Australia - and Australians sound more British than American.
So it's "awt?" Hm, I think I can do that. Cawt. Cot. Cawt. Cot.
Hey, thanks Besh.

Ben

Happy to help.

galt

Heh heh, that's funny. They could have a completely phony-British accent and I wouldn't know. Take it as a compliment, yeah? British accents sound so alluring, bad guys have to have them.

Drzava

Okay I'm guilty, I pronounce them both the same

Stewart

I think it's just the length of the aw that differs.

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Seagoon

Hehehe, I love having this discussion. It's so cool when you walk into a room full of Americans, say something completely normally and everyone pauses, turns to look, and wants you to talk to them so they can hear more of your brilliant accent.

As for pronunciation, well, I'm from the South and most would say I'm pretty well-spoken and don't have much of an accent, or if I do it's a pretty generic British one. I agree with Besh's Australian:

It's a looooooong sound (some people really stress the 'w' bit on the end).

As for 'cot', its the shortest 'o' sound you can make. Not an 'ohw', like the name of the letter, but how you would say it when you're going through your alphabet in nursery with how the letters sound:

'ah, buh, cuh, duh, eh, fuh...muh, nuh, oh, puh...'

You get the idea. Although I suppose that was the easier of the two.

While we're on the topic of Brit vs. American, I've always wondered what your stereotypical images of how British people look are. I know we have some for you folk across the pond. Sorry to say the most popular ones I've come across are a tobacco-chewing, Stetson-wearing, slightly dense cowboy or a really fat tourist guy wearing a baseball cap and clutching a bag of fast food.
Also do YOU have an image of a stereotypical American? When it's your own country, I imagine it would be quite different to a foreigner's picture.

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galt

What's the difference between northern British English and southern? Is it as distinct as northern American English and southern? Also, I've noticed that Hermione in the Harry Potter movies has a slightly different accent than the other characters. Is she just from a different part of England?
We must say the word "cot" very differently. It looks like you say it almost like "coat" (as in a jacket), whereas I say it with a very hard "ah" sound. Cot.
Well, I've never met a person directly from Britain, so I'm relying on what I've heard on the news and seen on tv (including sitcoms), so I don't regard the stereotype of British as accurate.
Come on, you guys love McDonald's too.
I've been wondering, are there liberal and conservative parties in the U.K.? Or are the parties known by different names? Isn't there a labor party? What is that?

kalibantre

I don't see it as a stereotype as I actually have just hung up my bowler hat, had my afternoon tea complete with cucumber sandwiches.. so I don't know what all this tot is about.

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~kitty