Date:  Thu, 27 Jun 1996 08:31:23 -0400

From:  "Dale F.Coye" <CoyeCFAT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: variation in unstressed vowels



David Bergdahl writes:



>Ohio is an area where <official> and like words, which in the east began

with

>a

>schwa when I lived there 25+ yrs. ago, have /o/ as the in initial syllable,

>which, incidentally, is stressed.



Do you mean the first syllable of "official" has a secondary stress? Or how

would you characterize it? And I wonder if it's invariably /oh/ or is does it

vary between schwa and /oh/?  When you say "like words" would that be a

whole range of words like opinion, oppress, offensive which also behave in

this way?



Dale Coye