Brooklynese in N.O.

[Dennis R. Preston]

OH MY GOD! I HAVE IT! WHAT TO DO?

dInIs

>On Sep 14, 2005, at 1:48 PM, Peter McGraw reports:
>
>>--On Wednesday, September 14, 2005 12:43 PM -0700 "Arnold M. Zwicky"
>><zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
>>
>>>  anybody have evidence
>>>on the use of "y'all" in brooklyn in the late 19th century?
>>
>>Well, I did hear that some of the workers took their boat (a yawl, no
>>doubt) and went back to Brooklyn.
>
>i believe they were escaping from the yaws, a disease resulting from
>the highly contagious vocalization of postvocalic [l].
>
>arnold


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15-C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036
Phone: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755
preston at msu.edu