Do Dawn and Don sound the same??

[MsKandice01]

I'm having this conversation on another board online and I'm blown away by the responses. My husband's name is spelled Shon. It's a variation of Shawn, Sean and Shaun. I'm being told that phonetically, Shon doesn't sound like Shawn. Shon sounds like John and Don, which is different from Dawn and Shawn. How??

Oh, and I'm also being told that by New Englanders that mad sounds like sad, bad, glad but not like had and dad.

I'm so confused!!

[KitchenWitch]

1. Don and Dawn do NOT sound the same.

[Orsino]

14. Although I would say that the sheer variety of American accents...

...swamps that phonetic difference. And when you add beer to the equation, Dawn can sound rather like Fernando.

[mainegreen]

2. Those New Englanders are pulling your leg.

Though I will say I don't say Don and Dawn quite the same. Don goes kinda down and has a more nasal sound than Dawn when I say it.
That's probably just me though.

:P

[Skittles]

3. in the South, yes

anywhere else, no

[alphafemale]

4. Bad differerent from Had or Dad?

Maybe if someone is using an "a" sound like in "hard" or "card" for some of those?

[Sanity Claws]

5. Dawn and Don do not sound alike

On the west coast, people pronounce them the same. In NY, they are clearly distinct words.
How about marry, merry, and Mary? NY'ers draw a distinction among all three. I've heard people on the West coast, Michigan and a friend from Pittsburgh, pronounce them the same.

[Pool Hall Ace]

6. They don't sound the same to me.

Don sounds like aaahh surrounded by a D and an n.

Dawn sounds like aww surrounded by a D and an n.

If I saw Shon, I would pronounce it the same way I would John and Don.

[ceile]

7. Nope.

Only slightly different though.

[Redstone]

8. I pronounce them differently. But others might not, and that might be a regional thing.

(Hey, I'm one of the few people I know who don't pronounce "door" and "more" the same, so you can't count on my pronunciation to be typical in any way.)

Redstone

[Gormy Cuss]

9. My New Jersey relatives pronounce "Dawn" sort of as "Dooun", and Don as Dahhn.

The N.E. mad/sad thing is a new one on me and I'm from Maine. Of course, if the "New Englanders" are from southern New England there are different pronunciation rules there.

[TZ]

10. Here in the midatlantic they do.

In fact I used to know a married Dawn and Don and she used to comment on the fact that their names sounded similar all the time...:)

[Kali]

11. Arizona born and bred here

I pronounce them the same, but have heard folks from back east (that is east of New Mexico from my perspective - but a New Yawker in particular) pronounce Dawn like duwan or almost dwan

[DarkTirade]

12. They sound very different.

Don has a much deeper voice than Dawn. :P

[petronius]

13. I pronounce them differently - more of an 'aww' sound in Dawn

That said, I would pronounce Don, Dawn, Sean, or Shon however the Don, Dawn, Sean, or Shon said it was pronounced. What kind of ass argues about the pronunciation of another person's name?

[alphafemale]

15. The song wasn't Delta Don. Or was it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRecsnAsIJ8

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

16. Dawn and Don don't sound the same

at least not the Dawn and Don that I know.

Dawn's voice is at least an octave higher in pitch.

:hi: