Barbara Walters

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Mon Feb 23 18:23:43 UTC 2009


At 10:05 AM -0800 2/23/09, Dave Wilton wrote:
>While she was born in Brookline, Mass., Barbara Walters grew up in
>Manhattan. I'm not sure exactly when she moved to New York, but it was
>fairly early in her childhood. In her late teens, the family moved to Miami.
>I'm not sure how valid any ascription of a New England accent would be to
>her.

Maybe she watched too many Bugs Bunny cartoons.

LH

>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>RonButters at AOL.COM
>Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 8:42 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Barbara Walters
>
>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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>>  >
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>>
>>
>
>
>
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