Dawgs

[Beverly Flanigan]

Yes, that's BE, but it's not Appalachian/Inland Southern--for example,
rural Georgia.  I suggested [daUg] to capture the offglide Matt mentioned,
but it's not fully accurate either.  We have it in Athens County/SE Ohio
too, and it's definitely not [dOUg].

Beverly

At 11:30 PM 10/24/2006, you wrote:
>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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