vowel raising/fronting

[James Smith]

Gene Autry says "Santy" in his recording titled "Here
comes Santa Claus", which dates back to the 50's..


--- Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU> wrote:

> I first heard "Santy Claus" for 'Santa Claus' years
> ago.  (It was probably
> "sanny".)  That was when I was in junior high.
>
> Years later in Indiana I've come across a similar
> schwa "fortition" on a local
> commercial.  The announcer for local business named
> "Second Glance" repeats the
> name several times, pronouncing "Second" [sEkiN]
> (N='eng' nasal).
>
> I've also heard the [I] of "him" raised to [i] when
> unstressed--for instance in
> a phrase like "ask him" or "tell him".
>
> These start as 3 distinct vowels, but is there a
> possible generalization here?
> (Something other than the obvious "they're all
> becoming [i]")
>
> Michael
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>    English Language & Linguistics
>    Purdue University
>    mcovarru at purdue.edu
>
>    web.ics.purdue.edu/~mcovarru
>   <http://wishydig.blogspot.com>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
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> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
>


James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.



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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org