fronted /oU/

[Beverly Flanigan]

It's also in southern and southeastern Ohio, where I hear it mainly in mid-
and older people, so it's been around a long time in the South
Midland.  It's not the same as Valley Girl fronting, at least not that of
my southern Cal VG grad student, nor is it quite the same as in RP, but
it's close.  I forget who plays Ainsley; could she be doing a poor
imitation of NC and/or private school vowels?

At 07:10 AM 11/3/00 -0500, you wrote:
>I've heard that fronted /oU/ sound in several dialects. It's the sound
>used in standard British speech. In America, I've heard it in southern
>New Jersey, Philadelphia and Baltimore. I've also heard it in West
>Virginia, from a 30-year-old or so contestant on "Who Wants to Be a
>Millionaire." His parents, though, used the General American /oU/. DARE
>says that it's a Philadelphia/Baltimore/Pittsburgh/eastern North Carolina
>feature that has been spreading; maybe it has been spreading in West
>Virginia. Ainsley is supposed to be from North Carolina; she could be
>from the eastern part of the state. A friend of mine from Kansas City
>says she's never used the sound or heard it in Kansas City; I guess it's
>not heard in that part of Missouri.


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm