Barbara Walters

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

Some scholar or other attributes BW's intervocalic r-weakening to a Rhode 
Island dialect, not Massachusetts. I'm not able to check this now. However, 
contrary to what Larry [lawi] said earlier, lablization of /r/ is certainly not 
unknown in various dialects of English (>[babwa waltowz])--cf. Elmer Fudd in the 
old cartoons.

In a message dated 2/23/09 10:59:32 AM, bhneed at GMAIL.COM writes:


> I am not a native of Massachusetts, but i lived north of Boston for
> nine years from 9.5. I never heard anyone up in Essex county who
> sounded like Barbara Walters--and no one ever pronounced my first name
> the way she is stereotyped as saying hers. (I remember people in my
> neck of the woods making fun of her!)
> 
> Barbara
> 
> Barbara Need
> 
> P.S. That I never acquired a Northshore accent was a conscious
> decision on my part. I thought the non-rhoticity and linking-R ugly,
> and I resented being told by my spelling teacher that I had
> mispronounced _aunt_ ([Ant] where [A] is ash). B
> 
> On 22 Feb 2009, at 11:54 PM, Paul Johnston wrote:
> 
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: ~ (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Comments from natives of Massachusetts are appreciated here, but
> > impressionistically, her most salient feature, the lip /r/, is
> > probably a dialect feature in Worcester, MA, where she originally
> > comes from, and I've heard it from a number of people from west of
> > Boston myself, as well as a number of obviously local contractors on
> > New England-based programs like This Old House, and the late Sen. and
> > ex-Presidential candidate Paul Tsongas (from Lowell, MA).  ( Not a
> > scientific sample, I know--and I'd love to know the distribution of
> > this feature.  It's not in Providence, RI.)  Otherwise, I hear a
> > mixture of New York City and New England features, particularly in
> > her vowel system.
> >
> > Paul Johnston
> > On Feb 22, 2009, at 4:08 PM, Alison Murie wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> >> Subject:      Re: ~ (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> ---------
> >>
> >> On Feb 22, 2009, at 3:09 PM, Paul Johnston wrote:
> >>
> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>> -----------------------
> >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>> Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> >>> Subject:      Re: ~ (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> ----------
> >>>
> >>> Tom,
> >>> That;'s because all the local Standards are 95% similar (I'd put
> >>> it a
> >>> little less, but not much) on a phonemic basis. Most of the
> >>> differences are on the sub-phonemic level.  The consonant systems,
> >>> phonemically, are nearly identical all over the US, for instance.
> >>> The vowel systems do differ phonemically, but not much with this
> >>> kind
> >>> of variety--your "awe-dropping", rhoticity vs. non-rhoticity (only a
> >>> few non-rhotic or, more likely, variably rhotic newscasters, but
> >>> those that are, Walters, King etc. are known for it) .  Some lexical
> >>> incidence differences appear in individual words, though this is the
> >>> stuff that the pronunciation guides concentrate on.  I'll give you
> >>> actual stats when I'm finished if you want to see them.  You'll be
> >>> surprised.
> >>>
> >>> Paul Johnston
> >> ~~~~~~~~
> >> Walters?  I've lived most of my life out of range of her voice, but
> >> the few times I have heard it  I have assumed her speech to be
> >> completely idiosyncratic, largely attributable to a speech
> >> impediment,
> >> not a dialect.
> >> AM
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> 




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