Translation query

[Kim Braithwaite]

By "country folk" I mean no disrespect. My father, who was an educated man 
and taught school in several cities, came from that stock and kept certain 
"country" speechways all his life. For that matter, any linguist knows that 
"country" is an imprecise term. "Country" speech communities are not all 
alike, from one region to another. And so yes, "regional pronunciation" can 
be a useful term. Brought up in the city ourselves, us kids (or "we kids" if 
you prefer) would kid my dad about it a bit.

In a similar vein, "lower class" and "not standard" are culturally powerful 
but scientifically shifty terms, since forms and pronunciations can come 
into or go out of favor through space and time. Refer to any work by David 
Crystal.

Whether the-AY-ter is a good match for kiyater I'm unable to say, especially 
if kiyater automatically carries a tinge of criminal jargon. But if it is 
merely prostonarodnoe maybe it'll work.

Finally, for anyone who doesn't know anything about Johnny Mercer 
(originally a southern country boy himself) and his string of popular and 
increasingly sophisticated songs, check out the relevant Wikipedia article. 
The first line of his "Strip Polka" goes: "There's a burlesque the-AY-ter 
where the boys like to go...."

Kim etc.....

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Genevra Gerhart" <ggerhart at COMCAST.NET>
To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Translation query


>I say it is not only country folk, (where did the term "okies" come from?),
> but also lower class, and not standard American pronunciation.
>
> Genevra Gerhart
>
> ggerhart at comcast.net
>
> www.genevragerhart.com
> www.russiancommonknowledge.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of William Derbyshire
> Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 5:38 PM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Translation query
>
> I take exception to the idea that the-AY-ter can be heard from the lips of
> country folk.
> Perhaps so, but one of my best friends teaches at one of our leading
> universities, and
> his PhD is in French literature. The preceding is his standard
> pronunciation.
> Although he is originally from Oklahoma, he is hardly "country folk"
> Perhaps
> we should
> use the term "regional pronunciation".   Bill  Derbyshire
>
>
>
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