free variation in pronunciation

[Alice Faber]

Douglas Bigham wrote:
>Given this pesky business of free variation, has anyone used
>distinctions between using
>
>A.) variant x
>B.) (possible) free variation between x & Y
>c.) variant Y
>
>in dialect work?
>
>For example, in my use (born & raised Southern IL) "drug" and
>"dragged" are both past of "drag".  I know one marks Appalachian
>English (supposedly) and the other is standard, but I can't recall
>which is which.  So, for me the two are in free variation (so free
>that I avoid them because I can't remember which is 'wrong').
>
>This free variation would seem to coincide with the notion that this
>area is viewed as both North and South speech depending on whom you
>ask.  So. . . Has this kind of thing ever been used to determine
>geographic dialect boundaries?

I don't know what to call it, but it's *exactly* my experience with
"dived" and "dove". I grew up in a suburb of New York City whose
population was c. 1/3 descendants of natives (Hudson Valley speech,
most likely, or Western New England), 1/3 New York City natives who'd
moved to the suburbs, and 1/3 Midwesterners who'd moved to the New
York area for jobs. There was disagreement among these groups about
which was right, "dived" or "dove", but I never could keep straight
what to say. On the other hand, there was playground argumentation
about "soda" vs "pop", but I never had any question in my mind that
"soda" is right and "pop" is silly.

Alice
--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203) 865-8963