wush (was Re: "Sock It to Me")

[Dennis R. Preston]

JL is indeed correct to note that "wuz" is ambiguous as to its true
eye-dialect status. There are some of us (standard speakers like me)
who have wedge (the vowel of "butt"). Some strange speakers appear to
have the vowel of "father." For that strange minority the spelling
"wuz" is indeed not eye-dialect but their attempt to represent the
actual pronunciation of the correct majority.

There may also be, even for us standard wedge speakers, a hint in the
"wuz" spelling that it is fronted, common among southern speakers, a
vowel nearer backwards epsilon than wedge.

As we skip around dialects, it may be difficult to find eye-dialect
that is only eye dialect for everybody.

dInIs



>It ain't necessarily so that "wuz" is meaningless eye-dialect.
>While most people I know say
>  / wVz / anyway, in East Tennessee I have also heard a very distinct
>/ waz /.  A roommate used to say it, so I had plenty of time to
>observe and take notes.
>
>So if you're a / waz /  sayer,  we  / wVz / sayers are the oddballs,
>and would be representedas saying "wuz."
>
>Confusion obtains, however, when my "wuz" is written as "wuz" to
>represent "wuz" / wUz /.
>
>Amyone wishing to write a monograph on the situation is welcome to
>use the title, " 'Wuz' : Is it is or is it Ain't ?"
>
>
>JL
>
>"Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU
>
>>  wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
>
>Subject: Re: wush (was Re: "Sock It to Me")
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>First, these are not eye-dialect examples in the strict sense; they
>are respellings which try to represent an actual pronunciation
>difference (not such eye-dialect only stuff as "sez" and "wuz"
>
>The vowel we are after here is perhaps closer to "push" than "lush,"
>but it is a central vowel, at IPA barred i.
>
>dInIs
>
>>MW3 shows the variant pronunciation /wUS/ for "wish".
>>
>>In those 'eye-dialect' examples of "wush" is the pronunciation /wUS/
>>(rhymes with "push") or is it /wVS/ (rhymes with "lush") or is it some
>>mixture of these? Do we know for sure? Is /wU/ an expected variant of /wV/,
>>or vice-versa, or not?
>>
>>"Wush" is one conventional Scots spelling of "wiss" (= "wish"). SND on-line
>>gives several examples from 19th and 20th century Scots. My little "Concise
>>Scots Dictionary" seems to indicate a pronunciation /wVS/ (along with
>>/wIs/, /wIS/, /wVs/).
>>
>>-- Doug Wilson
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>Morrill Hall 15-C
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
>Office: (517) 432-3791
>Fax: (517) 453-3755
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 432-3791
Fax: (517) 453-3755