Date: Wed, 9 Feb 1994 12:20:02 +0100 From: Peter Trudgill Subject: Re: Sluff/Slough No, there's no merger of /ow/ and /au/ anywhere. What has happened is what John Wells calls diphthong shift, so that /ow/ is /aw/ in the London region while /aw/ is /dw/ or /ew/ or /a:/. "Slow in Slough" is a joke, but not a pun! Peter Trudgill P.J. Trudgill Professor of English Language and Linguistics Section d'anglais BFSH 2 University of Lausanne CH-1015 Lausanne Switzerland Phone: +41-21-692 4593 Fax: +41-21-692 4637/4510 Home Phone and Fax (CH): +41-21-728 1916 Home Phone and Fax (GB): +44-603-618036