"mount" pronounced as "mont"

Question

Frequently over the years, I've heard the word "mount" pronounced as "mont" (here in American English dialects). Does anyone know where this monothongization comes from? Is it a leftover from an East Coast or Midwestern accent?

Larry

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Frequently over the years, I've heard the word "mount" pronounced as"mont" (here in American English dialects).[/nq]
Uniformly in Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Miami, St. Louis etc?

Perhaps it is easy to confuse the two where such prefixes are common, e.g. Montreal, Montpellier. But no Canadians (Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver) have adopted this pronunciation in my hearing.

-- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) dphillipson(at)trytel.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Frequently over the years, I've heard the word "mount" pronounced as "mont" (here in American English dialects). Does anyone know where this monothongization comes from? Is it a leftover from an East Coast or Midwestern accent?[/nq]
Are you referring to the "mountain" mount or the "get up on the horse horse" mount?

Most "mont" pronunciations I've heard are spelled that way, and are usually names borrowed from French or names of mountains in France.

However: When we lived in Pittsburgh, I recall "mount" (as in Mt. Washington) being pronounced the way you suggest. And here in SE Michigan, Mount (Mt.) Clemens (a city) is pronounced "Mont" Clemens by some people. I sort of connect it with people from Western Pennsylvania. I also knew a guy from New York who pronounced it "Mont" Clemens.

Maria Conlon

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Most "mont" pronunciations I've heard are spelled that way, and are usually names borrowed from French or names of mountains in France. However: When we lived in Pittsburgh, I recall "mount" (as in Mt. Washington) being pronounced the way you suggest.[/nq]
IIRC, Pittsburgh features not just the cot-caught merger, but also the monophthongization of /aU/. That might make "mount" sound like "mont" to a speaker of some particular other dialect. The monophthongization of /aU/ occurs in other dialects, such as Estuary English, so that "out" can sound like "at", for example. (I assume there's no "out"/"hat" merger in any Englandish accent, but I wonder.)
[nq:1]And here in SE Michigan, Mount (Mt.) Clemens (a city)[/nq]
The original home of the Reagan Democrats.
[nq:1]is pronounced "Mont" Clemens by some people. I sort of connect it with people from Western Pennsylvania. I also knew a guy from New York who pronounced it "Mont" Clemens.[/nq]
New York city or New York state? While /aU/ -> /A/ isn't a feature of New York city accents TTBOMK, I recall reading in a mid-20th-century monograph on New York city pronunciation that "Paramount" was pronounced like "Paramont" by many New York city speakers.

The Estuary English-style monophthongization of /aU/ to (a

is something I've heard from some Brooklyn speakers but only where /au/ precedes /l/ -- that is, in syllables rhyming with "owl", the speaker may say (a:l). But this may be a transdialectal AmE phenomenon -- how else can one explain the characterizations of Al Gore as "Owl Bore", particularly in communities in which Democrats aren't in the majority?

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[nq:1] in message ...[/nq]
[nq:2] I've lived in the Midwest and on the East Coast and I've never heard it. -- Mike Hardy[/nq]
[nq:1]The lady that said it often was from Idaho. Maybe it's a Northwestern or Upper Midwestern thing.[/nq]
Surely we can all agree that Idaho is not in the Midwest!

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[nq:2] in message ...[/nq]
Hi, I'm a British english speaker. What the **** is a 'monothongization'?? I assume it's an americanism - you're ruining our language you know

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[nq:1]Surely we can all agree that Idaho is not in the Midwest! Funny, when I was younger and did not ... fact, that Idaho is the only state whose name begins with the letter "I" that is not in the Midwest.[/nq]
-- Daniel G. McGrath (autistic) http://members.tripod.com/denyore_w0o/

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[nq:2] in message ... The lady that said it often was from Idaho. Maybe it's a Northwestern or Upper Midwestern thing.[/nq]
[nq:1]Surely we can all agree that Idaho is not in the Midwest! Pavlov. Lab coats. Saliva.[/nq]
-- Tony Cooper aka: (Email Removed) Provider of Jots, Tittles, and Oy!s

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[nq:2]The lady that said it often was from Idaho. Maybe it's a Northwesternor Upper Midwestern thing.[/nq]
[nq:1]Surely we can all agree that Idaho is not in the Midwest![/nq]
Argh, how could you avoid reading this part >>maybe it's a Northwestern<< of the sentence. I meant "Northwestern" as a part of the country, not as a part of the Midwest! Obviously Idaho is a part of the Inland Northwest.

The French are right, English is an ambiguous language. I never gave it much thought. Perhaps, if I'd added another "a" in their, you might have read that part of the sentence. :-\

Larry

Usenet · Answer

in message ...
[nq:1]Hi, I'm a British english speaker. What the **** is a 'monothongization'??I assume it's an americanism - you're ruining our language you know

[/nq]
Apparently, it's a useless American neologism, I picked up right here at AUE. :-P If you have a more suitable candidate, I'd be more than happy to hear it.

Larry

Usenet · Answer

in message ...
[nq:1]Funny, when I was younger and did not know my U.S. geography very well, I used to think that Idaho ... in fact, that Idaho is the only state whose namebegins with the letter "I" that is not in the Midwest.[/nq]
I can't believe this many people interpreted my post wrongly because I failed to include an "a" to distinguish the Upper Midwest from the Northwest. What I said was, and I quote: "Maybe it's a Northwestern or Upper Midwest thing". I don't see how so many people missed that "Northwestern" part. From now on, I'm going to borrow from the French and others and say it something like "Maybe it's a Northwestern or an Upper Midwestern thing".

I mentioned the Midwest in the first place because someone mentioned that as a part of a northern speech area.

Anyway, I once thought of Idaho as Midwestern too, maybe because it's an agricultural state, hehe, but I've known for many years where it is now. And, I always thought of "Quebec" as being pronounced "Q-bec" for the longest time as well, probably from an erroneous pronunciation of someone badly trying to immitate French, hehe.

Larry

"mount" pronounced as "mont"

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