Dawgs

[Paul Johnston]

The schwa glide?  Or the U-glide--like [dOUg] ?  I know that's an old
Southern form.

Paul Johnston
On Oct 24, 2006, at 4:53 PM, Matthew Gordon wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Matthew Gordon <gordonmj at MISSOURI.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Dawgs
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> ---------
>
> I thought the "dawg" spelling was meant to represent not just the
> open-o
> pronunciation but the more specifically southern diphthongal form
> with the
> schwa glide.
>
>
> On 10/24/06 3:34 PM, "Charles Doyle" <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>
>> I went to a football game this past weekend, the University of
>> Georgia vs.
>> Mississippi State.  Each university has for its totem the
>> bulldog.  Each
>> university features its team as the "Dawgs"; the University of
>> Georgia (at
>> least) has been doing so for many years.
>>
>> It wasn't much of a game, so I had time to wonder about that
>> spelling in a
>> region where "dawg" represents what has been the traditional
>> pronunciation
>> anyway--with that "open o" that dialects of many regions are
>> losing apace.
>> Among (old-fashioned) "Southern" speakers, the "dog"/"dawg"
>> distinction would
>> be simply orthographic (like "come"/"cum"). But what about the
>> semantics?  Is
>> it (or was it when it originated) merely a playful bit of self-
>> conscious
>> eye-dialect?
>>
>> Or, is the spelling something like a Confederate battle flag to be
>> waved into
>> the face of non-Southerners?  Or perhaps it simply suggests
>> "tradition" for
>> fans of the University of Georgia (I don't know about MSU), whose
>> campus is
>> now prevalently populated by first- and second-generation /dag/-
>> speaking
>> Northern immigrants?
>>
>> Is it because we lost that war 140 years ago that Southerners have
>> been so
>> absorbed, obsessed with issues of our regional identity?  A mom-
>> and-pop
>> restaurant in a small Georgia town will advertise its "Southern
>> cooking," as
>> if that weren't the default . . . .
>>
>> Oh, yes, the Dawgs won the game.  Barely.
>>
>> --Charlie
>>
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