Brooklynese in N.O.

[Wilson Gray]

It sounds like utter bullshit to me. The ^r > oi/oi > ^r alternation
is a commonplace in the South, not just in New Orleans, at least in
black speech. Get out your old Temptations 45's  and notice how often
you hear "oi" for "^r" and the reverse. This has been documented at
least as far back as1966, in the book, _Five Smooth Stones_, by Ann
Fairbairn, in which, in an aside, she notes this as a typical feature
of New Orleans BE.

I can recall joking about this as a feature of East Texas BE with
fellow black Texan expat children of my age in St. Louis, as far back
as the '40's. I have a cousin, also a native of Marshall, TX, but who
didn't move to St. Louis till she was an adult, ca.30 years old, whose
use of ^r > oi and oi > ^r is such that it sounds almost like a speech
defect.

-Wilson Gray

On 9/13/05, Grant Barrett <gbarrett at worldnewyork.org> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
> Subject:      Brooklynese in N.O.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Perhaps most noticeable of all is the common Brooklynese spoken by
> most New Orleanians as a result of Brooklyn middle school teachers
> being imported to New Orleans over a hundred years ago to help
> educate New Orleans children."
>
> http://www.americandaily.com/article/9095
>
> Comments?
>
> Grant Barrett
> gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
>


--
-Wilson Gray