Different dialects, same error

[Dennis R. Preston]

>If secondary or at least stronger than primary stress on "Mc" and
>"Mac" name prefixes identifies real soul brothers, you gone run into
>some real funny lookin ones, prolly my grandaddy, Ike "Red" Dennis,
>the funniest (rest his soul).

dInIs



>On Sep 5, 2004, at 9:54 AM, James A. Landau wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: Different dialects, same error
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>In a message dated  Sat, 4 Sep 2004 22:47:13 -0400,  Wilson Gray
>><wilson.gray at RCN.COM> writes:
>>
>>>   as a result of a
>>>  phonological rule of BE that causes Mc/Mac always to be pronounced as
>>>  [maek], as in "M[ae]c Cracklin," "M[ae]c Arthur," I mistakenly
>>>  *assumed* that McBrown, pronounced M[ae]c Brown in BE, was his
>>>surname.
>>>  That is, there is no difference in pronunciation between "Johnny
>>>  McBrown" and "Johnny Mack Brown."
>>
>>When you say "no difference in pronunciation" between "McBrown" and
>>"Mack
>>Brown", are you saying that in BE the "Mc-" or "Mac-" prefix receives
>>the same
>>stress as the middle name "Mack" standing along?
>
>Exactly. It's a very widespread, if not universal, feature of BE as
>spoken by "the real soul brother," to borrow a term from Richard Pryor.
>I remember my Texas grandparents speaking of General "Mack Arthur."
>There's the Missouri-born blues singer, "Jimmy Mack Cracklin." There's
>my North Carolina-born buddy, "David Mack Lane."
>
>>   That is, would a speaker of BE say " 'maek 'braun" rather than "
>>maek 'braun" for "McBrown"?
>
>However, as your intuition seems to be telling you, when a Mc/Mac name
>is spoken in isolation, there's sufficient difference in stress and/or
>intonation - or something or other - on the prefix that it's possible
>to tell, e.g. "M(a)cLane" from "Mack Lane" without having it spelled
>out.
>
>>The other possibility, that in BE a single-syllable middle name would
>>be unstressed, I would
>>find a little surprising.
>>
>>           - James A. Landau
>>
>
>You are correct, sir.
>
>-Wilson Gray


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu