In most languages, including English, vowels that occur next to nasal consonants (m, n, and ng in English) are produced as slightly or entirely nasal. I saw this as phonetically interesting. In my ...

Try to pronounce the words "caught" and "cot." If you're a New Yorker by birth, the two words will sound as different as their spellings. But if you grew up in California, you probably pronounce them ...