Dawgs

[Wilson Gray]

I vote for Paul's 'the U-glide--like [dOUg]," which strikes me as aa
decent representation of the BE pronunciation. Cf., e.g. the original
"you Ain't Nothin' But A Houn'-Dog," by "Big Mama" Willa Mae Thornton
or "No More Doggin'," by Rosco Gordon.

-Wilson

On 10/24/06, Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at wmich.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Dawgs
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Matthew Gordon <gordonmj at MISSOURI.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Dawgs
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> >
> > 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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-----
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