rawk (1987)

[Dennis R. Preston]

You mean there are some of you guys who don't rhyme hogs and dogs! I
knew y'all had different vowels in off and on, but this really pushes
it.

dInIs

>At 10:55 AM -0600 2/24/05, Jim Parish wrote:
>>Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>>  The pronunciation spelling "rawk" for "rock" (music) came up recently on
>>>  the alt.usage.english newsgroup.  For speakers who haven't merged "cot"
>>>  and "caught", "rawk" suggests an exaggerated pronunciation that might be
>>>  associated with young male fans of hard rock (possibly also evoking "raw"
>>>  or "raucous").
>>
>>This spelling is also popular (AFAICT, more popular) for the verb "rock", as
>>in "You RAWK!", a rather vague but forceful expression of praise.
>>
>Wonder if there's an influence from the "hawg" spelling (201,000
>google hits, mostly for Harleys and such).  Then there's "dawg" which
>I've always found curious, since that would be how I'd pronounce
>"dog" without any help.  (Sort of like "luv" or "wuz", or "wimmin".)
>At least in the "rawk" and "hawg" case the distinct spelling does
>index a distinct pronunciation.
>
>Larry


--
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