'sup?

[Dennis R. Preston]

The reduction of 'What's up' regularly occurs as /tsup/ (adding
another item to the 'tsetse fly' list of onset /ts/ forms in
English). The next stage of reduction compensatorily lengthens /s/
(/ssup/), but the last stage, as one would suspect from the
phonotactics of English, does away with this lengthening and yields
simply /sup/.

dInIs

PS: The most dramatic form of this compensatory onset lengthening
occurs in local pronunciations  of "Indianapolis" as /nnnaepl^s/, a
good three-mora /n/!

>  >===== Original Message From American Dialect Society
><ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>=====
>>I don't have background, however the expression is:
>>
>>"t'sup"  a contraction of "what's up"
>
>
>I have never heard <t'sup> - it's always <sup>. Is that new?
>
>Bethany