Local pronunciations

[Joel S. Berson]

Or in NYC, HOW st at n [Street, that is].

Joel

At 10/25/2005 05:04 PM, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Local pronunciations
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On  TV today, there were some people from New Madrid, MO. Needless to
>say, "Madrid" is not pronounced as in Spain. Rather, it's MAD drid. In
>like manner, Hayti, MO, is pronounced HAY tie. Unfortunately, I've
>never heard the local pronunciation of Houston, the county seat of
>Texas County, MO. In East and, perhaps in all of Texas, people say
>"YEW st at n." I say HYEW st at n, myself. But, when I talk to my mother,
>I'm reminded of the "correct" pronunciation.
>
>FWIW, my wife, who's from Northeast PA, shares some  pronunciations
>with my mother
>
>YEW st at n  YEW b at t ?^mpfrI / YEW b at rt ?^mpfri  YEW (= Hugh  hue)  etc.
>
>How do professional dialectologists deal with this kind of thing? It
>must really grow hair on your chest!
>
>-Wilson Gray