LL-L "Phonology" 2004.08.19 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 19.AUG.2004 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Brooks, Mark <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2004.08.19 (03) [E]

D.M. Pennington wrote:
"Hur over thur wi' the fur hur is me wahf!"

I have two CDs by George Harrison in which he pronounces the word "hair" as
I would pronounce the feminine possessive pronoun - her.  I'm not sure, but
I thought all the Beatles were from Liverpool.  Is "hur" for hair
characteristic of Liverpudlian?

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From: Szelog, Mike <Mike.Szelog at citizensbank.com>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2004.08.19 (03) [E]

Hello all,

Bill wrote:

     It has been written that there are three New England accents that were
brought over directly
from England.  Now one has a hard time finding examples of each.  I recall
one woman who grew up in North central Massachusetts (her family had been
there since the first English settlers arrived from the coast)  She had an
odd of speaking.  The word "calm" came out of her as "carm", and the town of
"Palmer" (MA) was Parmer.
 She did not otherwise have an impediment in her speach, nor was she
especially eccentric, despite the terrible inbreeding that occurred in the
then frontier towns of New England.  My question is: Is there a dialect of
Old CountryEnglish that favors the "R" over the "L"?

 And while we are at it, where did the Yankee word for yes come from?  I
used to hear people in normal conversation around Providence (RI) and
Springfield (MA) using "Ay-Yuh" for yes, but now you have to go to the
northern three New England states to hear it, thanks to the abominable TV.

Well, as for New England dialects - I can only offer you what I hear, or
perceive to hear. To me, there are three (or more) variations of it. In the
tri-state area of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, our accent/dialect is
very different from that of the Boston area and most of Massachusetts in
general. What is "passed off" as a New England accent in Connecticut and
particularly Rhode Island is, to my ears, not at all New England accent.
Though the people are located in what is geographically New England, I don't
think their accent/dialect is. To me, it sounds more like they come from New
York city! They are, in some cases, actually hard to understand to us up
here in New Hampshire!

There are subtle differences in the Tri-State area however - If you listen
carefully, you can usually tell if a person is from Maine, New Hampshire or
Vermont - I'm sorry, I don't really know the specifics of why that is;
intonation and pitch of the voice I think play a major rol
is characterized by what many would call a sing-song quality or even
lilting quality - I've often wondered if that may possibly be a remnant of
Irish and Scottish English lilts and burrs brought here by early settlers).

As for the ubiquitous "Ayuh" of New England - some say it comes from a
corruption of the Scots "Aye" followed quickly by an English "Yes" and the
"-es" part just dropped out over time.

I have to wonder (and also with the emphatic New England "no" which is
actually sounded like "Ndow!") if the origin might possibly come from our
original inhabitants, the Abenaki. In Abenaki, the word for "yes" is, "ôhô"
(where the ô represents the nasal vowel of the French "-on" in "bon". The
stress on this word is on the last syllable. Or perhaps that's where the
"uh-huh" comes from (?).

The word for "no" in Abenaki is "nda" - very similar to the New England
emphatic "ndow". Just kind of makes one wonder!

Mike S

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