back to the dialects of NJ

[David Bowie]

From:    "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
: On Oct 20, 2004, at 3:06 PM, Dale Coye wrote:

:: ... Around the Trenton area there is a unique (to my knowledge)
:: glottal stop before syllabic /n/ in words like Trenton, mitten,
:: written. ..

: oh dear, this is the connecticut glottal thing all over again!

: some sort of glottal(ized) variant of /t/ before syllabic /n/ is all
: over the u.s.  now we're starting to collect impressions that in some
: localities there's something unique about the particular variant used
: in that locality.  (or possibly about the syllable with the /n/.  or
: something.)  facts, i want facts!

Agreed that it's all over and lots of people seem to think it's unique to
where they're from (though i've found that lots of Central Floridians, who
clearly have it, are utterly incapable of hearing it in local speech), but
there may well be some regional differences in the way the glottalization's
done. For example, the Wasatch Front's glottalized pre-nasal /t/ may (i
stress *may*--Wendy Baker's and my looking at this is very preliminary yet)
have some extra aspiration, compared to at least some other regions.

David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
    Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
    house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
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