# Pronunciation of the vowel sounds in "paw" and "bra". **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431 "2018-05-01T20:30:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/21 "2018-05-02T00:48:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Do not sound alike in your particular region, is what you mean. These are pointless arguments, as regional accents and pronunciations differ. Yes, I guess you’re right. But _bra_ just floors me. No one who wears one would say “I am putting on my braw.” We have 2 options here, call it a brassiere or don’t wear one;) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/22 "2018-05-02T01:25:04Z")
Imagine that? People have accents! ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/23 "2018-05-02T01:46:20Z")
Not a native speaker of English; but I can definitely hear a difference in all pronounciations I’ve encountered. “Paw” sounds pretty much like the Swedish word _på_, while “bra” is pronounced very close to _bra_ in Swedish. (Neither word means the same thing). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/24 "2018-05-02T01:55:19Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Ma and pa have a bra > > But it’s against the law to saw a paw Same here, I’m from the northeast. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/25 "2018-05-02T02:09:59Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Ma and pa have a bra! Only one between them? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/26 "2018-05-02T02:46:05Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Only one between them? 🙂 Sometimes it is, … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/27 "2018-05-02T02:52:00Z")
I pronounce them the same. Wow! I tried pronouncing “paw” the same way as Swedish “på” - that was an eye-opener for me, or at least a mouth-opener. 🙂 I feel like an honorary New Yorker - I’ll have to go get a cup of cwoffee now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/28 "2018-05-02T04:02:38Z")
I’m pretty sure one of the ways you can tell someone is faking an accent that doesn’t have the merger is that they make both of them sound like the aw sound. I personally recognize that there is a difference if I listen for it in others, and, when being very particular, think of them differently. But, in actual practice, I say them the same, as do most people I know. I admit that I recognize the diphthong much more than the monophthong. The latter just sounds to similar to people who just don’t open their mouth as wide. But the diphthong is unmistakable. I don’t think of it as Southern, however; it sounds New York to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/29 "2018-05-02T06:14:09Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Imagine that? > > People have accents! I don’t! It’s just everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/30 "2018-05-02T07:07:24Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I am sorry, bra and jaw do not sound alike. Similar but not the same. It’s the _w_ You may pronounce them differently, but a letter is not what makes the difference. Letters don’t dictate pronunciation–otherwise, no one would be able to talk until they could read. You don’t hear a “w.” You hear someone’s mouth, tongue, and vocal cords making sounds, and if you are from the same speech community, you will probably grow up producing the sounds in the same way. You are doing that regardless of how the words are spelled. By and large, letters on a page or pixels on a screen aren’t determining your pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/31 "2018-05-02T07:42:22Z")
Of course they’re different. If you happen to live in a neighborhood where there is no difference in cot/caught or hock/hawk or sod/sawed, that is a dialectal outlier. Most Englilsh speakers would recognize that as a peculiarity. There are always people in forums like this who live in New York City or BFE who come on here and tell us what it is in their neighborhood, but English, as a universal language, recognized the phonetic distinction between those two sounds and use it make the distinction between the two words… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/32 "2018-05-02T08:23:46Z")
I don’t know if you guys have listened to a New Zealand accent such as I possess, but ivrythung sends duffrint wen we tawk. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/33 "2018-05-02T08:54:05Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > If you happen to live in a neighborhood where there is no difference in cot/caught or hock/hawk or sod/sawed, that is a dialectal outlier. [Huge swaths of the US](http://i.imgur.com/g2rEZAL.png) have merged. Unmerged probably wins by population, but merged isn’t exactly an outlier. Due to Hollywood influence, merged probably wins when it comes to US media output. And yet consumers of TV and movies hardly notice. It certainly doesn’t stand out as a peculiarity. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/34 "2018-05-02T10:26:05Z")
The same and I’m really having a hard time imagining how to pronounce them differently. I’m from Southern California. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/35 "2018-05-02T11:07:22Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I don’t! It’s just everyone else. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/36 "2018-05-02T13:10:31Z")
New England born and bred. It’s “aaaaaaaa” the same to me. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/37 "2018-05-02T13:14:13Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Interestingly enough, I pronounce paw and bra the same, but not caught and cot. Define “the same” Is it paw & braw, or pa and bra? In fact, I pose this question to everyone who said they pronounce the words the same. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/38 "2018-05-02T13:14:25Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Bra, paw, law, ha, maw, nah, gah, ta-ta, flaw, awe, jaw, saw… all the same. > > cot, caught, taught, brought, hot, lot, aught, ought, bot, rot… all the same. This. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/39 "2018-05-02T13:56:06Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > New England born and bred. It’s “aaaaaaaa” the same to me. Yeah, and you folks paaak ya caaaa in the same space. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431/40 "2018-05-02T14:05:29Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > The same and I’m really having a hard time imagining how to pronounce them differently. I’m from Southern California. [This link](https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wT#en/sv/on) might help - click on the little speaker icon underneath the Swedish word “ **på** ” at right. That’s very close to how many Americans pronounce “paw” – Swedish speaker seems to make the lip rounding more tense than would be typical for English speakers – that makes the Swedish vowel **å** perhaps come off as “overdone” to an English-speaking listener. Then again, the Swedish speaker is pronouncing the word in isolation, not in the course of conversation – that can have an effect (cf. English “the” said in isolation, and then how it’s normally rendered in conversation). [This link](https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wT#en/sv/get%2C%20fa%2C%20get%2C%20fa%2C%20get%2C%20fa) might help, too – a Swedish speaker alternating between “ **få** ” (English “get”) and “ **fa** ” (fourth note on the major scale [do re mi fa …]). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-the-vowel-sounds-in-paw-and-bra/813431.md?page=3)