So I've recently watched "Crazy Ex Girlfriend" (which is set in SoCal), and I've noticed everyone there pronounced "Law" and "Lawyer" differently, which was really interesting. To my ears, their pronunciation of "Lawyer" has a darker, probably more rounded sound. I checked on youglish and some speakers didn't make the difference. I don't know if this is specific to the cot-caught merger or Californian accents. I did notice before that surrounding sounds affect the quality of vowels even with the merge, but it's the same consonants so I'm not sure what's happening here.
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Can you provide a video/audio file or a link to the vid?– VoidCommented Dec 12, 2020 at 12:58
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Different: youtu.be/pg5WtBjox-Y 1:04, youtu.be/ARCMjO8WYMk 2:22, same: youtu.be/6qkqoUXQlCQ 0:00– OpalCommented Dec 12, 2020 at 17:24
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I've possibly found the answer, look at how dictionary.com transcribes it dictionary.com/browse/lawyer– OpalCommented Dec 14, 2020 at 8:25
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1 Answer
"Lawyer" sometimes (usually?) has the diphthong /ɔɪ/, as transcribed here: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lawyer. This seems to be very widespread across many accents. In american accents, the difference is more noticeable in accents that have the cot-caught merger, because the diphthong still retains a "dark" quality, and 'law' is pronounced with /ɑ/.