Dueling dialects

[Dennis R. Preston]

We've just completed a survey of over 30 younger St. Louisians (for
another purpose) but in looking back at them, I find no case of /ae/
preservation before /r/. That is, all /ae/ (Harry) forms are /E/
(just as are all historical /e/ and /E/ forms).

dInIs

>On Aug 20, 2004, at 9:43 AM, Ed Keer wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Ed Keer <edkeer at YAHOO.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: Dueling dialects
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>>You bring up, I believe, the issue of pre-rhotic
>>>front non-high vowel
>>>neutralization vs. differentiation, which is
>>>certainly not constant
>>>across European-American dialects.
>
>Of course it isn't.
>
>>>   As a duellist
>>>who happens to hail
>>>from NYC, I maintain the classical 3-way
>>>distinction:  Mary [e],
>>>merry [E], marry [ae].  -arry names like "Barry" or
>>>"Harry" (I could
>>>never understand those "Harry"/"hairy" puns) have
>>>the [ae] vowel of
>>>"bat".
>
>This is basically the system used in East Texas. I say "basically"
>because you have to factor in the Southern drawl, etc. However, the St.
>Louis dialect once again appears to be skewed, compared to others.
>E.g., Harry/hairy puns are transparent to anyone from St. Louis, since
>they both have the [ae] vowel of "bat." You know, I've had a sudden
>flash of insight. I used to know a kid named "Harry Balls." I often
>wondered what this guy's parents could have been thinking, that they
>would name their child "hairy balls." I'll bet that those parents
>simply came from a place where "Harry" and "hairy" don't fall together.
>Ever play the book-title game? E.g., "Under The Grandstand" by Seymour
>Harryass. There's a variant in which the author's name is "Seymour
>Butts." It would be interesting to know whether the variant arose in
>some dialect in which "Harry" and "hairy" are distinct. Or maybe not.
>BTW, even in St. Louis, people are a bit taken aback by the fact that
>"lord" and "lard" have fallen together. Imagine a thousand Catholics in
>Saint Louis Cathedral praying, "Hail, Mary full of grace, the Lard is
>with thee" and struggling not to snicker.
>
>-Wilson Gray
>
>>
>>
>>No way, the classical 3-way distinction was: Mary [e],
>>merry [@], marry [ae]. Any other pronunciation is
>>barbaric :)
>>
>>Ed (from SE PA/Philly)
>>
>>
>>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736