vowels...

[Mai Kuha]

Great! This is an example of Southern Vowel Shift, right? What I can't figure out is how to deliver this story verbally (to students in class). Can anyone help?  The forms spelled as "hell" and "hail" in the story should both be pronounced the way "hell" is pronounced by people NOT participating in the Southern Vowel Shift, right? But does the punchline really disambiguate the word, if the story is heard, rather than read?

-Mai

On Mon, 01 May 2000, Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM wrote:

> One day my seven year old daughter, Megan, decided to tattle
> on her brother to her teacher: "Mrs. H., last night
> my brother hit me in the head with a piece of ice and
> it hurt like hell."
> Shocked at what she'd heard, Mrs. H. quickly responded,
> "Excuse me, Megan?"
(...)
> "No, Mrs. H., REALLY, my brother hit me with a piece of
> ice in the head and it hurt like *hail* falling on my head."

Mai Kuha
Department of English
Ball State University
mkuha at altavista.com

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