AP on Southern "accent" reduction

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wilson, in at least one song Lead Belly mostly sings "Mississippi" but then has "Missirippi"  at one point. Do you think that's some kind of "linking-r" gone wrong or what ?

  JL



Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: AP on Southern "accent" reduction
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On 11/23/05, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: AP on Southern "accent" reduction
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> "Long Island lockjaw" is the version I remember reading about.
>
> JL
>
> Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
> Subject: Re: AP on Southern "accent" reduction
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> Quoting Jonathan Lighter :
>
> > A little further down the page :
> >
> > "[S]ophomore Ali Huffstetler...said she "luuuvs" the slow-paced softnes=
s
> of
> > her upstate South Carolina magnolia mouth."
> >
> > "Magnolia mouth" appears on Google about 600 times as both nickname and
> > common noun.
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> Is that the Dixie equivalent of Locust Valley lockjaw?
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>
> --Ben Zimmer
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>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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Speaking of Southern accents, I'm probably mistaken, but I've gotten the
impression that "orruh" [r] is more common in both Southern BE and regular
Southern English than it used to be, judging by what I hear on trash TV, e.=
g.
Maury, Jerry, Judge Greg, Judge Joe, etc.

On the other hand, the BE linking R, as in the blues lines,

I got teahs all in my rise
I got tears all in my eyes

Tin tuh ya bidnis an' leave my reffa-uhs alone
Attend to your business and leave my affairs alone

which was pretty rare even when I was a kid in the '40's, seems to have gon=
e
the way of all sound.
--
-Wilson




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