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

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:24 PM -0400 6/28/05, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>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...
>

Somehow, I keep thinking of that album from the 80's, "Was (Not
Was)", which for ages I could never quite figure out because I only
saw references to it in print, until I heard someone pronounce it:
[was], not [w at z]  (or, depending on your phonology or religion,
[was], not [w^z]), an allusion to the appropriate pronunciation of
the last name of the lead singer, Don Was.

Larry

>
>>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