"Are you deef?"

[Kathryn Remlinger]

This is purely anecdotal evidence about the deaf/deef pronunciation. My
maternal grandmother, who was born and raised in NW Ohio and whose first
language was German, also said "deef" for deaf. I always attributed it
to her first language and regional dialect, which both of which were
influenced by German. I also think it's generational--none of her
children pronounce deaf this way.

Kate




____________________
Kathryn Remlinger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English: Linguistics
Department of English
Grand Valley State University
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, MI 49401 USA
remlingk at gvsu.edu
tel: 616-331-3122
fax: 616-331-3430