Fwd: query on "boid"s and "terlet"s

[Laurence Horn]

This is from a student (not the same one who's looking at acquisition
of AAVE) who is considering a project on American dialects for her
senior essay.  This is another take on the question we batted around
a month or so ago about Bill Labov and the NYC/New Orleans
connection, but looking at the wider picture as well...

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I'm looking into the relationship between /r/ (the approximant as in
American English) and "oy" or "uhy." I know that in some New Orleans
and (old) New York varieties, SAE syllabic /r/s are replaced with
some a rising diphthong, as in "woiking" ('working')  As I understand
it there are also some communities (the same ones?) where the
opposite process also occurs, as in "terlet" ('toilet').  Are there
other dialects of English (American or otherwise) with similar
alternations (in relation to SAE or another variety)?  I'm looking
particularly for independent arisals, though spreading from New York
or New Orleans would also be interesting.  Are there theories of how
the New York and New Orleans pronunciations arose in the first place?
(Do they stem from something similar in a British dialect?)
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Thanks for any pointers anyone can provide.

Larry

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