Fwd: conversating

[Wilson Gray]

Yes. What you saaid, Jon.

-Wilson

On 10/23/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Fwd: conversating
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As a simple back-formation, "conversate" would not necessarily have been "introduced" for the sake of prestige. All that would be needed would be lack of familiarity with "converse," which I believe is much rarer in everyday speech than "conversation."
>
>   In addition to learning from peers, countless six-year-olds have undoubtedly coined "conversate" independently, and some of them have undoubtedly kept using it.
>
>   JL
> Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Beverly Flanigan
> Subject: Re: Fwd: conversating
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This "Doan" pronunciation is typical of South Midland speech, what I've
> been calling the 'Don --> dawn" vowel change. It's not quite 'dawn' but
> something midway between Don and dawn (/a/ and /oh/ for IPA users). So NC
> speakers, black or white, would have this vowel. I cited "waited on" as
> sounding like this, diagnostic of South Midland both grammatically and
> phonologically.
>
> The idea that "conversating" would sound "up" is quite understandable; it's
> "fancier" than plain old "conversing."
>
> Beverly
>
> At 04:57 PM 10/22/2006, you wrote:
> >My guess is that they - ElimiDate's producers - purposely pick people
> >whose speech patterns and looks are more-or-less "standard" or
> >neutral, so as to draw a larger audience than they would if their
> >white participants looked and sounded like they had just come from the
> >holler or their black participants looked and sounded like they had
> >just come straight out of Compton. They want participants who are the
> >bland, all-American types that anyone can relate to.
> >
> >OTOH, WRT to Maury and Jerry, the stranger their "guests" are, the
> >better, since the reactions of their semi-participating live audiences
> >are part of the show, as is also the case with the "Judge [Name]"
> >shows. On one such show, participants identified as being from
> >Franklin, NC, pronounced the name "Dawn" as "Doan," i.e. [do:n]. I was
> >surprised, though I shouldn't have been, given that I've been
> >accustomed to hearing, e.g. "on" and "Tom" falling together with "own"
> >and "tome," all my life.
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On 10/22/06, Baker, John wrote:
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>Poster: "Baker, John"
> >>Subject: Re: Fwd: conversating
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>So what do you think is happening, Wilson? Are the participants not =
> >>really in the stated settings, or are participants chosen who have less =
> >>prominent local dialects, or what? It sounds like something interesting =
> >>may be going on; I'm curious as to what.
> >>=20
> >>John Baker
> >>=20
> >>
> >>________________________________
> >>
> >>From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Wilson Gray
> >>Sent: Sat 10/21/2006 3:47 PM
> >>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>Subject: Re: Fwd: conversating
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>FWIW, ElimiDate could give the naive watcher the impression that local
> >>dialects are on the way out. The setting is, e.g. Natchez,
> >>Mississippi, and the only thing clearly Southern about the speech of
> >>the participants is their use of "y'all"? Black participants sound
> >>like Tom Brokaw? To quote Richard Pryor, "Unreal! An' I ain' goin' fo'
> >>it."
> >>
> >>-Wilson
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> >--
> >Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> >complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> >Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
> >a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
> >race. He brought death into the world.
> >
> >--Sam Clemens
> >
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--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

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