quest for info/suggestions. re: dialects

[William H. Smith]

In real English (i.e. Southern), "-ing" is pronounced [In] when unstressed.
Thus, we have "nothin'" and "somethin'."  In trisyllabics like "anything"
and "everything," the "-ing" has secondary stress and thus retains the velar
nasal.  Them damn yankees ain't smart enough to catch that difference.
Bill


At 07:17 PM 10/3/99 -0500, you wrote:
>>  But I stil cringe when I hear strength
>> pronounced "strenth" rather than "straingth" like all normal,
>
>This somehow reminds me of something I've meant to mention before.
>Why do so many of the Southern-accent-fakers in movies pronounce
>"anything" with the last syllable sounding like "thin"?  I've never
>heard any Southerner do that.  We raise the vowel slightly, as one
>might expect before a nasal, and we have a strong [ng] (nasal velar).
>   --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)
>