performance/preformance

[Bob Haas]

Oh, yes.  I've heard in words like "preformance" and "preform," and also in
the word "southren" for southern.  I don't hear it as much as I used to do.

I have no idea of the cause, but I remember thinking at one time it might be
a form of hypercorrectivism perhaps caused by misreading.  Maybe it's all a
phenonmenon traced back to dyslexia.  But I doubt it.  (Very much.)

> From: "Prof. Roly Sussex" <sussex at LINGUA.ARTS.UQ.EDU.AU>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 12:03:16 +1000
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: performance/preformance
>
> Is this known in American English, and does anyone have an explanation for why
> it might arise?