my name

[Dennis R. Preston]

Tom,

Hardly personal at all.

Many items which might be rendered with a schwa in unstressed
syllables are actually more [I]-like in US southern speech. I seem to
have the following practice:

Careful: [dInIs]
Moderately careful: [dIn at s] (where [@] = schwa
Casual, allegro: [dI~:s] (where [I~] = nasalized [I] and [:] = length

But I am perhaps (nay, certainly) contaminated by years of northern
exposure; I have heard speakers more southern than me preserve the
[I] even in casual speech. Their stressed [I] is also tenser than
mine and deserves a raise mark on the [I].

dIn(I)s

PS: Then relationship of my name to "dentist" has always been
interesting to me. Some people have [dInIst] for both me and the
tooth-doctor.



>Without getting too personal, I sometimes wonder how you can sign your name
>"dInIs" (if that's a phonetic representation) with both vowels identical,
>which I believe they are not because of their different accentuation. Praps
>this has been discussed before. Just kidding!
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 7:56 AM
>Subject: Re: Intrinsic vowel length
>
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Intrinsic vowel length
>>  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-----
>>
>>  >Of course! Thanks. (And I was even her colleague for a bit.)
>>
>>  Dennis
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  >Lehiste (1980)
>>  >Suprasegmentals.
>>  >MIT Press [i think].
>>  >the classic.
>>  >!
>>
>>
>>  --
>>  Dennis R. Preston
>>  University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
>>  Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African
>Languages
>>  A-740 Wells Hall
>>  Michigan State University
>>  East Lansing, MI 48824
>>  Phone: (517) 432-3099
>>  Fax: (517) 432-2736
>>  preston at msu.edu
>>


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu