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Dear Yuri,<div><br></div><div>As we might expect, there are many major dialects and many more minor dialects in just the United States. Besides the source that Nicholas Ostler gives, you might contact the American Dialect Society (<a href="http://www.americandialect.org">www.americandialect.org</a>) which specializes in Southern varieties, or the Atlas of North American English (<a href="http://www.ling.upenn.edu">www.ling.upenn.edu</a>) for major urban dialects.</div><div><br></div><div>Marcia Haag</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Nov 30, 2009, at 4:58 PM, Yuri Tambovtsev wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><font face="Arial" size="2"><div><font face="Arial" size="2">Dear Lingtyp colleagues, so Americans, especially Southerners do not talk like the speakers of the North-Eastern dialect of New England, like those of the State of Maine, do they? I wish I knew. Do Southerners distinguish between long and short vowels? Do the spekers of Maine and other New England States in the USA distinguish between long and short vowels? I mean like HEEL and Hill, Boot and BOOK, PARK and PUCK, etc? And what about the representatives of the Western or Central US dialects? Looking forward to hearing from you soon to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:yutamb@mail.ru">yutamb@mail.ru</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>, be well YOurs most obidient servant Yuri Tambovtsev, Novosibirsk, Russia.</font></div></font></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>