hypocoristics (Was: hoss)

[Millie Webb]

Oops.  It was late, and I guess my brain wasn't firing on all cylinders.
Sorry.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 10:08 AM
Subject: Re: hypocoristics (Was: hoss)


> At 12:22 AM -0500 8/9/02, Millie Webb wrote:
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Sent: Sunday, August 04, 2002 8:28 PM
> >Subject: Re: hoss
> >
> >
> >>  Me too.  I have a minimal pair between "hoss" [h)s, open o] (as in
> >>  the Bonanza/Keith Jackson) and "Hos" [has] (as in the abbreviation
> >>  for Jeff Hostetler, the backup quarterback who led the N. Y. Giants
> >>  to victory in the 1991 Super Bowl).  I know, however, that the
> >>  hypocoristic was created by someone who pronounced them as homonyms
> >>  (with the open o vowel I use in the former), and probably pronounced
> >>  "Hostetler" with an open o as well.
> >>
> >>  larry
> >
> >"hoss" is open 'o' for me also, but it does not sound odd as [a] either.
I
> >do find it interesting that you would call pronouncing Hostetler (a very
> >common Amish Mennonite name) with an open 'o' hypercorrective.
>
> I didn't, and wouldn't.  Look again, please.  I called "Hos" a
> hypocoristic (i.e. a short, pet name) for "Hostetler".
>
> --larry
>
> >  I have heard
> >it both ways (by people with the name themselves, and by others) in
several
> >different Old Order Districts in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and
Minnesota.
> >If there is any pattern to open 'o' or [a] in Hostetler, it would be
> >generational, I think--with older folks over sixty being much more likely
to
> >pronounce it with open 'o'.  Names are names, in my experience.  Which
way
> >they are pronounced and spelled is difficult (at best) to label "correct"
or
> >"incorrect".  Then again, we discussed this a bit earlier.  Sorry if I
sound
> >repetitive.  -- Millie