Query: dialectal pronunciation of the type "EYE-talian" for "Italian"

[Stephen Goranson]

For the 1969 song Ahab the Arab by Ray Stevens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wph2Qjj2Mes

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/


________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of W Brewer [brewerwa at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 12:02 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Query: dialectal pronunciation of the type              "EYE-talian" for              "Italian"

GLC: <<dialectal pronunciation of the type "EYE-talian">>

WB: Eskimo Christian? My 1980 log at UCLA started picking up <Iraq> &
<Iran> chatter on 18 Sept. (N.b. Iran-Iraq War, September 1980 to August
1988.): 66,1: Informant TC: <Iran>: [ear-RAN], better [ear-RON], not
[eye-RAN]; <Iranian>: best [ear-RAH-] > okay [ear-RAY- ~ -RAN-] > not okay
[eye-RAY-]. 66,6: <Iraqi> ~ <Iraqis> (both pl, with [ae]). 67,2:
Connotational gradation in <Iranian> for informant RAL: best
[ear-RAY-knee-uhn] or [ear-RAH-knee-uhn] > acceptable [ear-RAN-knee-uhn] >
bad [eye-RAY-knee-uhn]. 67,5: Iran, caught between Iraq and a hard place.
Dictionary authorities prescribed <Iran> [ear-RON] ~ <Iranian>
[eye-RAY-knee-uhn]. Now [i.e. 1980] seems H-level [ear- ~ ear-] (i.e.
elitist, US media usage) vs. L-level [eye- ~ eye]. Sociolectal leveling in
opposite directions.

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