PEAS: "crick" in North, N Midland; "creek" in South, S Midland

[Beverly Flanigan]

PEAS has a few informants on the Ohio side of the Ohio River (just west of
the Kanawha River in WVa but running northeastward as far as the Wheeling
parallel), and they too are recorded as using [krik].  However, [krIk] is
often heard in this South Midland area now, and the urban/rural distinction
between 'creek' and 'crick' is widespread and a topic of comment in the
schools.

At 06:41 PM 10/24/99 -0700, you wrote:
>This from "Pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States" (1961):
>
>"creek (Map 97)
>
>"_Creek_ has either the vowel /i/ of _peak_ or the /I/ of pick. The
>dissemination of the variants is largely regional.
>
>"/i/ is in general use in the South, except for the South Carolina coast,
>and in the South Midland from the Kanawha River southward. Within this
>extensive area, the /I/ of _pick_ has some currency along the lower Potomac
>and in a pocket in western North Carolina (here clearly a survival of
>Pennsylvania usage). On the other hand, /i/ is used to some extent on upper
>Chesapeake Bay; by older persons on the Eastern Shore of Maryland; by
>younger and by cultured speakers -- clearly as a prestige pronounciation --
>on the Western Shore, especially in Annapolis and Baltimore. /i/ has also
>been adopted by some younger and better educated speakers in the Valley of
>Virginia and in West Virginia north of the Kanawha (Charleston to Wheeling).
>
>"In coastal South Carolina, from the Pee Dee to the Savannah, /i/ and /I/
>are equally common. There is no marked social cleavage in usage, and in
>Charleston and elsewhere many speakers waver. Here the /I/ of _pick_ is
>clearly old in _creek_; it is noteworthy that it has not been accepted in
>the Piedmont, as so many Low Country features have been adopted there.
>
>"The vowel /I/ of _pick_ predominates throughout the North Midland and the
>North, except for southern New England and, perhaps, Metropolitan New York.
>It has nearly universal currency in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and
>northern West Virginia, as well as in the valleys of the Hudson and the
>Mohawk in New York State and in northeastern New England and New Brunswick.
>
>"In southern New England, from Plymouth to the Housatonic in western
>Connecticut, /I/ and /i/ are equally common, and the usage of some speakers
>fluctuates. The dissemination of the variants is local rather than social
>(e.g. Martha's Vineyard and the communities on the lower Connecticut have
>only /I/, Rhode Island more commonly /i/).
>
>"Long Island has /I/, which also predominates in Brooklyn. In Manhattan
>usage seems to be equally divided, but cultured speakers use the /i/ of
>_peak_.
>
>In western Vermont (where _creek_ means a fresh-water stream, as farther
>west), and in the northern and western parts of New York State, /i/ runs a
>close second to /I/, especially in the speech of the better educated. Here
>/i/ is presumably derived in part from coastal New England (where _creek_
>means a tidal inlet of the sea); but the spelling of the word has doubtless
>been a contributing factor in favor of /i/. The rather frequent use of /i/
>in Ontario and in northern Ohio has a similar background. In southern Ohio,
>however, /i/ is a contribution of the South Midland."
>
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