Didn't as [dIdInt]

[Jonathan Lighter]

> the Abbey is "Down-ton".

Not to me. None of your minimal pairs strike resounding chord in this house.

JL


On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Didn't as [dIdInt]
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jun 24, 2014, at 9:29 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> > At 6/24/2014 08:24 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >> I've always done that syllabic thing with "Milton" because as a New =
> Yorker
> >> I do the same nasalized thing with "mountain" and "countin'."
> >=20
> > If I had had a childhood acquaintance in NYC, I might have called him =
> "Mil-tn".  But to me the poet and revered republican is "Mill-ton".
> >=20
> Nice minimal pair!  I'm not sure I consistently do that for the poet, =
> though.  I definitely contrast "Milton" (uncle) with "Will-ton" (Wilton, =
> CT), and "tauntin'" with "Taun-ton" (Mass.), and have the strong sense =
> that I'd reduce Wilton and Taunton if I lived in or near those towns, =
> but the poet could go either way.  I agree with JL on "mountain" and =
> "countin'", but the Abbey is "Down-ton".
>
> LH
>
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