Dawgs

[Beverly Flanigan]

Actually, I'll modify my vowel a bit: In this area, at least, the core
vowel is midway between /a/ and /O/, the so-called "turned script a".  It's
in IPA, and Kurath & McDavid use it in their West PA/eastern OH/general
Appalachian transcriptions extensively.  The full open O doesn't glide into
/U/ easily, does it?  The "turned script a" is what Wells uses for British
English "pot" too.  I just elicited it today from an Ohio grad student who
has homophonous 'cot' and 'caught' but with this midway vowel, not either
/a/ or /O/.  It's also in Ontario, and it's the vowel in homophonous 'Don'
and 'dawn' in western PA.  Is this a bit closer to what you're hearing in
"dog"?

At 04:03 PM 10/25/2006, you wrote:
>I just gotta say, Beverly: the core vowel I hear in "dog" in
>Appalachian/Inland Southern (white) speech--whatever the nature of the
>glides--is definitely /O/, not /a/!
>
>The situation is more complex and variable for "hog," "sausage," and
>"laundry" (for example) in those dialects.
>
>--Charlie
>_____________________________________________
>
>
>---- Original message ----
> >Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:24:18 -0400
> >From: Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> >Subject: Re: Dawgs
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >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 a
> 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
> >>
>
> >>>
> >>>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:
>
> >>> >
> >>> > 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:
>
>.. . . 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.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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