Dec 15, 2013
You know what’s fun to listen to back home (Philadelphia area)? The “inserted L”. In a few dialects (or maybe just the New York and subsequent Philly accents) after a final /ɔ/, an L is inserted. For instance, the word “draw” which is normally /drɔ/, what I hear (and usually say) is /drɔl/, much like the pronunciation of drawl in “southern drawl.”
What had me fascinated today about it though was when I was watching the Army/Navy game with my step dad and mom. A former Navy player, Roger Staubach was talking and my mom was saying his name. It wasn’t until his name popped up on the screen that I realized his name didn’t have an L in it like my mother was pronouncing it (/stɔbak/ vs. /stɔlbak/).