At last. A home for drinkers!

[Dennis Preston]

Larry,

Yes indeed, and Oklahoma is surely split on this matter between
"Western" (merger) and "Southern" (no merger), generally speaking.
It's going to be very interesting to look at the border territories
of such features. Erica Benson at Wisconsin Eau- Claire, for example,
is looking at the western limits of the Northern Cities Chain Shift,
for example, where the local low back merger meets a developing
system (i.e., the NCCS) that does not tolerate the merger. What about
the "Western" versus "Southern" identities in Oklahoma? Since the
distinction is revealed in the phonological system (not just the
phonetic realizations), we have a good opportunity to look at the
phonetics-phonology interface in emerging dialect terms, a fact Bill
Labov has talked about in the Inland Northern versus North Midlands
boundary, especially with regard to the /o/ (GOAT) -fronting and low
back merger characteristics of the latter and how inhospitable the
Midlands is to the NCCS, although places Like Fort Wayne and South
Bend are dangerously close to it, yet seem not to be buying into it.

dInIs



>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: At last. A home for drinkers!
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 9:55 AM -0500 12/13/07, Dennis Preston wrote:
>>Some of y'all boys lookin fer a place to lay your weary heads after a
>>night on the town may want to check out some Oklahoma possibilities.
>>One realtor writes about a place as follers:
>>
>>Wonderful, Unique house located in a very sot after neighborhood.
>>
>>dInIs
>
>...and a pretty strong clue as to where the realtor stands on the
>"caught"/"cot" merger.
>
>LH
>
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>>Subject:      Re: From Slashdot
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>You may have a point there, Matthew, WRT Br v. Am variation. But isn't
>>>that what dialectology is about? Had _has to do_ been spoken by an
>>>American and _is to do_ been spoken by an Englishman, the difference
>>>may wee not have caught my attention. But that wasn't the case. Both
>>>speakers were American. Even merely within the US, there are many
>>>variations, up to the point of ungrammaticality. Cf., e.g.:
>>>
>>>"You sank my boat!"
>>>
>>>A. "No I never!"
>>>
>>>B. "No I didn't!
>>>
>>>For me, A is almost laughingly ungrammatical in this context, though
>>>I've been hearing  people speak that way for about 65 years. I've
>>>simply never been able to get ready for the A version. I just can't
>>>feature it.
>>>
>>>-Wilson
>>>
>>>On 12/11/07, Gordon, Matthew J. <GordonMJ at missouri.edu> wrote:
>>>>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>-----------------------
>>>>   Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>   Poster:       "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
>>>>   Subject:      Re: From Slashdot
>>>>
>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>   I'm not sure why Wilson's pointing this out exactly. Isn't the
>>>>variation =
>>>>   between "is to do" and "has to do" British vs. American?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>   -----Original Message-----
>>>>   From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Wilson Gray
>>>>   Sent: Tue 12/11/2007 6:27 PM
>>>>   To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>>   Subject:      From Slashdot
>>>>   =20
>>>>   "The problem _is to do_ with the power-saving systems ..."
>>>>
>>>>   -Wilson
>>>>   --
>>>>   All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>>>   come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>>>   -----
>>>>                                                 -Sam'l Clemens
>  >>>
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>>>>   The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>>   ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>   The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>>-----
>>>                                                -Sam'l Clemens
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>--
>>Dennis R. Preston
>>University Distinguished Professor
>>Department of English
>>Morrill Hall 15-C
>>Michigan State University
>>East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org