The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?

[Paul Johnston]

The original British town in Essex is Billericay, pronounced "Bill-a-Rickey", as in Ian Dury's song "Billericay Dickie".  Knowing what I do about early American pronunciation, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the 1700s pronunciation too.  I don't know about Nashua, either, but there's an Algonquian moroherme of some kind that is common in town names that comes out as /@we/, cf. Piscataway, Rockaway, Rahway, and originally (en franca is) "Chicagouais".  But Idoubt if anyone uses those pronunciations now, especially Canadians.


On Jul 16, 2014, at 9:55 AM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> At 7/15/2014 11:51 PM, caitlin o wrote:
>> Full-blown Canadian here.  "eigh" and "eh" are pronounced 
>> identically in my rural, western dialect.
> 
> But -- both like WAY (weigh) or both like MEH?
> 
> Thanks,
> Joel
> 
> P.S.  In case anyone was wondering, I believe "Billerica" is (most 
> often)  "bill-RICK-uh" and "Nashua" is "NASH-ooh-uh".
> 
> 
>>> Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:14:26 -0400
>>> From: Berson at ATT.NET
>>> Subject: The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> 
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header 
>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>> Subject:      The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?
>>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> My viewing of the TV news this evening was interrupted by a weather
>>> alert for flash floods.  Supplementing the scrolling warning,
>>> describing the dangers in various locations in northeastern
>>> Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, was a voice-over that named
>>> particular towns.  Two were "Bill-rick-a" and "Nash-ooh-a",
>>> pronounced like A as in NEIGHBOR and WEIGH.
>>> 
>>> (No especial emphasis on any of the three syllables.)
>>> 
>>> Although I suppose genuine Canucks don't say "eigh" but rather "eh".
>>> 
>>> Joel
>>> 
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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