Dawgs

[Beverly Flanigan]

I agree, Wilson!  My bad.

At 05:26 PM 10/25/2006, you wrote:
>Beverly asks, "The full open O doesn't glide into /U/ easily, does it?"
>
>It seems to me that "easy" and "easily" are ill-defined WRT speech. A
>native speaker of Czech once asked me, "Is there, in English, a
>distinction between the 'vippink' of 'vippink krim' and the 'vippink'
>of 'vippink villo'"? Another time, a native speaker of Israeli Hebrew
>asked me, "Is there any difference between the boy's name [jOn] and
>the girl's name [jOn]?"
>
>It was all that I could do to keep from bursting into laughter. The
>distinction between the vowels of "whipping" and "weeping" or those of
>"John" and "Joan" is so "easy" to hear - to a native speaker of
>English - that I was caught totally off guard. I nearly ejaculated,
>"Are you serious? Those vowels aren't *anything* alike!"
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 10/25/06, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Dawgs
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>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.
>> >
>> >------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
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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
>
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