Slang poster

[Beverly Flanigan]

Interesting!  I'm from SW Minnesota, but I now have a niece in Alexandria;
I'll listen to her closely next summer (she also has a pronounced "Canadian
raised" 'aboot', more than anyone else in the family).  This may be new
since I left the state.  Your blog page is also interesting; some of the
changes sound like the Northern Cities Shift, but not only raised but also
tensed.  But are "baggel" and "vague" really lowered to /ae/ or laxed to
/E/?  I wonder what Matt thinks?

The IPA is difficult to reproduce in e-mail--unless someone has a good
suggestion?

Beverly

At 05:01 PM 10/26/2006, you wrote:
>Quoting Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Slang poster
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Where in Minnesota is your wife from?  My entire family lives in Minnesota
> > (as I did for 25 years), and I've never heard [e] for [ae] before a voiced
> > velar stop.
> >
>
>She grew up in St Cloud.
>
>I have found it from the Twin Cities up to the ND border but most reliably
>in a
>central to north-western strip.  In North Dakota in the northern/eastern
>quarter. I mentioned it in a post a little bit ago. (Sorry about the title.)
>
><http://wishydig.blogspot.com/2006/09/oyah-good-fox-up-dare.html>
>
>Several residents from these areas attest the difference in the vowel and just
>recently a Wisconsin resident agreed with the alternation.  The most common
>words in which I've heard it -- and on which the speakers report they get the
>most reaction -- are "flag" and "bag."  Very different from "flack" and
>"back."
>
>I have heard a very slight diphthongization in Michigan but never the complete
>raising of the vowel.
>
>Question: any suggestions for using IPA symbols in these pure-text
>messages?  I
>hate to see my posts coming back to me with the bracketed html code instead of
>the phonetic symbols I was trying to use.
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Are the vowels in "slang" and "slant" pronounced the same in m-w.com?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
> > > > See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.
> > >
> > >
> > >Although the pronunciation key uses the same symbol for both, in the
> > >recording I
> > >hear either a slight diphthongization or a raising in "slang".
> > >
> > >This is similar to the [e] for [æ] alternation I heard in North Dakota and
> > >Minnesota.
> > >
> > >When I ask my wife to say "wagon" she says [wegən] and when I ask her
> > to
> > >syllabify it she says [wej - gən]. She claims the first vowel is
> > >identical to
> > >the vowel in "ray gun." And it's a true rhyme with "Reagan" she offers.
> > >
> > >I recently posted the claim:
> > >"[A]pparently before a voiced velar stop or nasal (either [g] or [ŋ])
> > >she raises
> > >/æ/ to /e/. Adding the [i]/[j] diphthongisation is probably just a natural
> > >effect when a coda is lost and the following onset is noticeably
> > suspended."
> > >
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>     Michael Covarrubias
>     Purdue University
>     mcovarru at purdue.edu
>     wishydig.blogspot.com
>
>USA - MI4, OH3, MD3, MI13, ND5, MI3, IN1+
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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