Dueling dialects

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:01 AM -0400 8/20/04, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>Ask Walt Wolfram (or any other Phildelphian) about the merry=Murry
>>confusion. It's why they have furry boats there.
>
>dInIs

I did a search for "Murray Christmas", which I know I've seen in
print as a Philly shibboleth, but was overwhelmed with Anne Murray
Christmas recordings.  But " "Murray Christmas" Philly" did bring
back a few relevant ones.

>
>
>>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