of likely interest to NYers only

[Michael Newman]

>At 3:08 PM -0600 3/5/02, Matthew Gordon wrote:
>>Can you specify which NCS features you've noticed?
>>On a more general note, are NYers (nonlinguists) aware of the NCS as a
>>stereotype of, say, Buffalo or Rochester?
>>
>Well, more of Chicago, I think.  But there's an awareness, at least
>on the part of many non-linguists.  I've heard a couple of
>mock-Northern Cities pronunciations on sports highlight shows to
>denote "Chicago".
>
>larry

I agree with Larry. When I mention Chicago, some of my students will
front the vowel in the name. I also heard this in LA.

As for our Great Lakes subway voice:
There is a fronted /a/ in 'stop' and lowered vowel in 'Wall,' as well
as tensed /ae/s in places where NYers don't tense. There don't seem
to be any of the later shifts.

--
Michael Newman
Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics
Dept. of Linguistics and Communication Disorders
Queens College/CUNY
Flushing, NY 11367