Dueling dialects

[Dennis R. Preston]

>Ask Walt Wolfram (or any other Phildelphian) about the merry=Murry
>confusion. It's why they have furry boats there.

dInIs


>Ed (from SE PA/Philly) wrote:
>
>No way, the classical 3-way distinction was: Mary [e],
>merry [@], marry [ae]. Any other pronunciation is
>barbaric :)
>
>so merry = Murray??
>
>4-way splitting David from Valley Stream, LI, NY


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736