FW: Nebraskans/Standard English

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:56 PM -0500 1/18/02, Michael Newman wrote:
>>Re what Michael Newman has said, copied below --
>>
>>The issue is not what is "best".  There is no "best".  And clearly, everyone
>>has the signs of their particular origin, upbringing, or education in their
>>idiolect.
>
>Obviously, but in folk linguistics this is how it is expressed. You
>can't separate a supposedly neutral one from people's positive
>evaluation of such perception. People notice European-American NY or
>Boston (less Philly) and southern, but not as frequently Northern
>cities.

As it happens, a feature on Michael Jordan's return to Chicago to
play with the Washington Wizards against his old Bulls on ESPN last
night began with the reporter saying (against a backdrop of the
Jordan statue in front of the United Center that Jordan "built")
"HE'S BEEE-AACK", with a very exaggerated Northern Cities shifted
/ae/ (as a diphthong beginning with a high front vowel).  It's  the
same vowel, only more blatant, that Dennis Franz consistently employs
as the Andy Sipowicz character uses as a supposed New York cop on
NYPD Blue (others have pointed out that this character must have been
transplanted to NYC from Chicago without retaining any conscious
memory of his Midwestern roots).  Anyway, for the reporter in
question--I forget her name--Northern cities /ae/ is a functioning
shibboleth.

larry