online accent quiz
Dennis R. Preston
preston at MSU.EDU
Mon Dec 4 00:50:08 UTC 2006
Tom,
I might have gone there to check some of this
stuff (to see, for example, if truespel
distinguishes between "horse" and "hoarse," as
all of civilization should), but then I read your
blurb -
This book is an in-dept analysis of the
letter/sound correspondence of USA English.
and decided that since "depth" did not end in an
intedental in your system, that I could take it
all with a grain of salt.
Why don't you just get the fuck off the ADS list
and go peddle your ignorance of language and
linguistics somewhere else. Apparently there is a
market among the linguistically insecure who(m)
you can threaten.
dInIs
>---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: online accent quiz
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Then if linguists don't prescribe pronunciation, who does? Every dictionary
>writer says they are descriptive pronunciation. I have written a dictionary
>pronunciation. I say what I'm writing is descriptive. But then it becomes
>prescriptive for those reading it.
>
>What's bad about a dialect is that it subverts the alpabetic principle, that
>letters stand for sounds. It makes English less consistent, it creates
>homonyms that cause confusion of meaning.
>
>If you have no criterion for dialects being good or bad, than you can have
>no opinion. But if you value the alphabetic principle and would like to
>keep English pronunciation as consistent with it as possible, it means
>saying "pin" for the word "pen" is not good.
>
>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
>See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>Subject: Re: online accent quiz
>>Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 14:39:23 -0600
>>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster: Scot LaFaive <spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM>
>>Subject: Re: online accent quiz
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>What you call mispronunciation is a large part of what makes a dialect a
>>dialect. If you say the speakers of certain dialects are mispronouncing
>>their words, then you are saying that their dialect is wrong. Personally, I
>>won't say that someone's natural language is wrong just because they
>>pronounce "pen" and "pin" the same. Someone might tell me that my dialect
>>is
>>wrong too for extending the length of the "o" in Minnesota, but I don't
>>think it is. It's just different. I personally think we, as linguists,
>>should be just describing the way people speak instead of telling them they
>>are wrong and trying to prescribe.
>>
>>Scot LaFaive
>>
>>
>> >From: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>> >Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> >Subject: Re: online accent quiz
>> >Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 19:52:19 +0000
>> >
>> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >-----------------------
>> >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >Poster: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>> >Subject: Re: online accent quiz
>> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> >Why defend mispronunciations. Sure folks in some areas say pin for pen.
>> >So when they say "I've got a pin for you" you don't know what they mean.
>> >Is
>> >it pin or pen?
>> >
>> >My friend was working with a speach recognition program. He said the
>> >stupid
>> >program recognized "bed" for "bad". I said let me hear you say it. Then
>>I
>> >said "You are saying "bed" instead of "bad".
>> >
>> >If that's "knot" a "bed" homonym "eye" don't "no" "watt"t is. :-)
> > >
>> >Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
>> >See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > >From: Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
>> > >Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > >Subject: Re: online accent quiz
>> > >Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 01:37:51 -0500
>> > >
>> > >---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > >-----------------------
>> > >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > >Poster: Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
>> > >Subject: Re: online accent quiz
>> >
>> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >
>> > >Quoting Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>:
>> > >
>> > > > The caught/cot distinction
>> > > > won't go because it shouldn't.
>> > >
>> > >This must mean that English lost the [a:]/[a] distinction because it
>> >should
>> > >have. Was there also a requirement that led to the vowel shift?
>> > >
>> > > > You may not care, but there are those
>> > > > that do. Awe-droppers do the language
>> > > > a disservice, create unnecessary homonyms,
>> > > > thereby lessening intelligibility and ease
>> > > > of learning English.
>> > > > [...]
>> > >
>> > >I doubt I could make a reasonable distinction between necessary and
>> > >unnecessary
>> > >homonyms.
>> > >
>> > > > I have no clue what dInIs is.
>> > > > SAMPA for Dennis? Both vowels are
>> > > > short i? This does not happen in USA.
>> > > > You must be a Brit?
>> > > > Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
>> > >
>> > >Despite your apparent view of the supremacy of your dialect/idiolect
>>the
>> > >[I]
>> > >does indeed occur as a surface form for many speakers of American
>> >English.
>> > >Have you never heard someone pronounce "pen" [pIn]? It's not a secret.
>> > >It's
>> > >not rare. It's not wrong it's not evil and it won't ruin the language.
>> > >
>> > >Michael Covarrubias
>> > >
>> > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> > >
>> > > English Language & Linguistics
>> > > Purdue University
>> > > mcovarru at purdue.edu
>> > >
>> > > web.ics.purdue.edu/~mcovarru
>> > > <http://wishydig.blogspot.com>
>> > >
>> > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> > >
>> > >------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>> >_________________________________________________________________
>> >Get free, personalized commercial-free online radio with MSN Radio
>>powered
>> >by Pandora http://radio.msn.com/?icid=T002MSN03A07001
>> >
>> >------------------------------------------------------------
>> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>_________________________________________________________________
>>All-in-one security and maintenance for your PC. Get a free 90-day trial!
>>http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwlo0050000002msn/direct/01/?href=http://clk.atdmt.com/MSN/go/msnnkwlo0050000001msn/direct/01/?href=http://www.windowsonecare.com/?sc_cid=msn_hotmail
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>View Athleteís Collections with Live Search
>http://sportmaps.live.com/index.html?source=hmemailtaglinenov06&FORM=MGAC01
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
--
It should be the chief aim of a university
professor to exhibit himself in his own true
character - that is, as an ignorant man [sic]
thinking, actively utilizing his small share of
knowledge. Alfred North Whitehead
There are many different religions in this world,
but if you look at them carefully, you'll see
that they all have one thing in common: They were
invented by a giant, superintelligent slug named
Dennis. Homer Simpson
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
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list