accusative cursing

[Beverly Flanigan]

I don't like that "unacceptable dialects" line either.  Unacceptable to
whom?  The opposite stigmatization occurs with "victuals," which is
conventionally pronounced "vittles," but when it's spelled in the latter
form is considered "dialectal" or even, I daresay, "semi-standard."  In
fact, my students regularly think I'm pronouncing the word incorrectly,
until I point out the derivation through Old French 'vitaille' from Latin
'victualia'.

Reminds me of an argument I recently had in my Sociolx class about "true"
languages.  When I said Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, etc. now had the
right to be called separate languages, one student said "But isn't
Serbo-Croatian the _real_ language, and shouldn't linguists call it by its
_true_ name?"   (I had cited Suzanne Romaine and Brian Joseph to the
contrary.)  Ugh!

Beverly Flanigan
Ohio University

At 12:09 PM 4/11/2007, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: accusative cursing
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>This is the first time that I've run into a discussion whether a
>purely phonological variant of a word makes it a non-word. Huh? Does
>that fact that most of you mispronounce my name (with the "bet"
>vowel) make it a non-name?
>
>dInIs
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >Subject:      Re: accusative cursing
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
> >
> >At 9:25 PM -0400 4/10/07, James C Stalker wrote:
> >>Laurence Horn writes:
> >>
> >>>
> >>>a.k.a. "nekkid"?
> >>>
> >>If you wish, but since it isn't a real word, who cares about the spelling?
> >
> >Not a real word?  "nekkid" has 822,000 raw google hits.  That doesn't
> >necessarily make it a real word, but it does seem to suggest it's a
> >real semi-standardized variant of one (cf. "purty", "nucular").  We
> >need the double -k- in "nekkid" (rather than spelling it "nekid") to
> >denote ['nEkId] rather than either ['nE(y)kId] (= the standard
> >pronunciation of "naked") or ['nIkId] (the standard pronounciation of
> >"knee-kid").
> >
> >LH
> >
> >>In part, I josh, but not wholly.  Are there conventional spellings for
> >>conventionally unacceptable pronunciations in unacceptable dialects, except
> >>maybe in DARE?  Why do we need the double k?  As with Wilson, musings
> rather
> >>than real questions.
> >>
> >>JCS
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>James C. Stalker
> >>Department of English
> >>Michigan State University
> >>
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>
>--
>It should be the chief aim of a university professor to exhibit
>himself [sic] in his own true character - that is, as an ignorant man
>thinking, actively utilizing his small share of knowledge. Alfred
>North Whitehead
>
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>Morrill Hall 15-C
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
>Office: (517) 353-4736
>Fax: (517) 353-3755
>
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