of likely interest to NYers only

[Alice Faber]

On Tuesday, March 5, 2002, at 05:17  PM, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

> At 04:32 PM 3/5/02 -0500, you wrote:
>> At 3:08 PM -0600 3/5/02, Matthew Gordon wrote:
>>> Can you specify which NCS features you've noticed?
>>> On a more general note, are NYers (nonlinguists) aware of the NCS as a
>>> stereotype of, say, Buffalo or Rochester?
>> Well, more of Chicago, I think.  But there's an awareness, at least
>> on the part of many non-linguists.  I've heard a couple of
>> mock-Northern Cities pronunciations on sports highlight shows to
>> denote "Chicago".
>>
>> larry
>
> Yes, students in Ohio frequently comment on the "nasally" sound of
> Clevelanders, and they have definite opinions about it.

But are they focusing on specific features of the Northern Cities accent
or just on the fact that it sounds *different*? I have a friend who spent
some of his formative years in Rochester. He always refers to the city as
R[ae]chester, but doesn't talk about the accent overall.
--
Alice Faber
Haskins Laboratories                                    Tel: (203) 865-6163
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New Haven, CT 06511 USA                              faber at haskins.yale.edu