Query: women > wimming

[Dennis R. Preston]

Your mother and me. (No offense intended.)

dInIs



>Wasn't "wimming" Popeye's normal pronunciation of "women"? FWIW, my
>mother is unique in my experience in pronouncing "women" as [wI m at n].
>
>-Wilson
>
>On Jan 21, 2005, at 1:47 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Query: women > wimming
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>>Ron,
>>>
>>>I'm pretty sure you;re right. Dicken's has got some '-ing'
>>>hypercorrectors among his characters; I done forgot who.
>>>
>>>dInIs
>>>
>>
>>that's Dicking's, innit?
>>
>>>
>>>>I have a videotape from a 1961 press conference in which a Lake
>>>>Charles, LA,
>>>>sherriff pronounces "women" with a final velar nasal and then
>>>>corrects
>>>>himself. In general in this press conference, he pronounces "-ing"
>>>>with a velar
>>>>nasal, and there are other indications of formality as well.
>>>>
>>>>Am I right in concluding that the "wimming" pronunciation is a
>>>>hypercorrection occassioned by the sherriff's self-conscious of the
>>>>"-ing" pronunciation?
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>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


--
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