dialects

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jun 22, 2006, at 8:06 AM, Larry Horn wrote:

> ... Or that Youpers, born and bred in the U.P. of
> Michigan, are phonologically indistinguishable
> from Texans.  Or (if there's an exception for
> those south-of-whatever) from Utahns.  Maybe he
> was misquoted?

alas, no.  he asserts that once settlers went west of ohio, their
accents started to blend together, and then it was all one
undifferentiated accent, right out to california and oregon.

you'd have to have a tin ear not to hear accent differences here on
the west coast, stemming in part from significant differences north
to south in the origin of the majority of settlers (new england in
the north, the southwest in the south), but also related to urban vs.
rural and coastal vs. inland differences in settlement.

arnold

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