vowel raising/fronting

[Wilson Gray]

When I was a child, I was under the impression that the name of the
right jolly old elf, to coin a phrase, was "Sannih Claw." In some
Southern dialects of BE, this pronunciaation has come to mean
"Christmas gift." The Other Sonny Boy Richardson has a Christmas blues
song about trying to find his "sanih claw," the context making it
clear that he's looking for his Christmas gift. The exact form that
this gift will take is left as an exercise for the listener.

-Wilson

On 12/13/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: vowel raising/fronting
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 12/13/06, James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >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.
> >
> > Gene Autry says "Santy" in his recording titled "Here
> > comes Santa Claus", which dates back to the 50's..
>
> And don't forget the sanity clause.
>
> http://www.nightattheopera.net/contract.html
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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