Catching z's in Illinoiz [WAS: Folk Awareness oif Dialect]

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:02 AM -0600 12/6/00, Mike Salovesh wrote:
>But then I remembered an old song about Illinois.  The song is
>attributed to the middle 1800s; its rhymes indicate both z and non-z
>variants.  The first verse conforms to my prejudices:
>
>         Way down upon the Wabash, such land was never known
>         If Adam had crossed over it, the soil he'd surely own
>         He'd swear it was the garden he'd lived in while a boy
>         And straight declare it Eden in the state of Illinois
>
>CHORUS: Move your fam'ly westward, good health you will enjoy
>         And rise to wealth and honor in the State of Illinois
>
>Another verse, however, goes the other way completely:
>
>         Away up in the northland, just by the borderline
>         A great commercial city, Chicago, you will find
>         Her men are all like Abelard, her women like Heloise
>                 (pronounced "hell oize")
>         All good and honest people 'cause they live in Illinoiz.
>
>CHORUS: So move your fam'ly westward, bring all your girls and boys
>         And raise them in that garden spot, the state of Illinoiz.
>
If the claim about all her men being like Abelard and all her women
like Heloise is accurate, it's surprising that there are any
second-generation Illinoisans.  Maybe they're all adopted.

larry