Off-gliding to G

[Paul Johnston]

TZ has been saying he has (and all of us have) this feature for a
long time.  I don't notice it as being more common here in MI; I do
notice it in the speech of various Easterners (not all from "Longg
Island") as a minority form.  It's stereotypically associated with
certain ethnic groups (Jewish, Polish, Russian, German), but I
certainly know others not from these ethnic groups who have it.
Again, I don't see it as increasing, but then I haven't lived in
Greater NY since 1988.

Paul Johnston
On Sep 22, 2009, at 3:27 PM, Grant Barrett wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
> Subject:      Off-gliding to G
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> I received this query from a listener to the radio show and wonder if
> anyone has any thoughts about it. Is it something you've noticed
> yourself as being more common? Can you recommend reading on this
> particular habit?
>
>> I wondered if you were aware that, in your broadcasts, you tend to
>> pronounce a hard G at the ends of words like "sing". I am running
>> into this habitual off-gliding more and more with my acting
>> students. When I point this out to them, they are shocked that you
>> could say a word like "sing" without that hard G sound.
>
>
> Grant Barrett
> gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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