apizza; pie

[Dennis R. Preston]

But when is an article an article, and when has it lost that status
(due to phonological processes and attrition  of language skills
among immigrant users)?  When we got rid of the 'n' in "nuncle" and
"nadder" in English, I'm fairly certain it was not the result of an
enclave of pop grammarians deliberating on the "article" status of
the noises involved.

dInIs

>Well, now we're getting some conflicting information (the idea that
>Middletown doesn't call its pizzas "apizza" because it was settled by
>Sicilians, unlike the Neapolitans, or rather the provinicial
>Campanians, who settled New Haven and imported their "apizza"
>spelling and pronunciation, vs. the claim below that Sicilians would
>do it too.).  But the real question I'd have, following Doug Wilson,
>is whether it really makes sense to HAVE a definite article in the
>name of pizza shops, as in "Pepe's Apizza", "Sally's Apizza", "Olde
>World Apizza", and so on.   What you get elsewhere is not "X's La
>Pizza" but "X's Pizza", with no article at all.  Similarly in French
>you'd get "Jeanne's Crepes", not "Jeanne's les Crepes".  So it's not
>the FORM but the PRESENCE of the article that I (and Doug) find
>puzzling.
>
>larry
>
>>Further thoughts from the It-American Historical Assoc. listserv:
>>
>>From: Suzanne Branciforte <s.branciforte at wind.it.net>
>>
>>
>>Ciao a tutti!
>>
>>As for 'a-beetz':  most southern dialects (not just Neapolitan, but also
>>
>>Sicilian) drop the L in the article LA (or the U in UNA, like in Che
>>
>>bella cosa, 'na iurnata sole) and then truncate final vowels.  The
>>
>>heavier labial consonants make the P sound like B, a-beetz for la pizza,
>>
>>broshjut for prosciutto, and so on.
>>
>>
>>I couldn't resist getting into this discussion; my piece "The Day Anna
>>
>>Stopped Making a-Beetz" is coming out in the volume *The Milk of
>>
>>Almonds* (New York: Feminist Press, 2002, Edvige Giunta and Louise De
>>
>>Salvo eds.).
>>
>>
>>Saluti,
>>
>>Suzanne Branciforte
>>
>>
>>
>>----- End forwarded message -----
>>
>>Steve Boatti

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Languages
740 Wells Hall A
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office - (517) 353-0740
Fax - (517) 432-2736