[hw-] v. [w]

[Dennis R. Preston]

Why would /ai/ monphthongization and r-loss indicate an attempt at
British Englsh. Why not southern US? Am I missing something (in which
case /ae/ in "dance" and "France" would be right on).

dInIs

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: [hw-] v. [w]
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 05:19 PM 8/1/2007, you wrote:
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>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: [hw-] v. [w]
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>On 8/1/07, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
>>  >
>>  > [David A. Daniel wrote:]
>>  > >
>>  > > [Scott LaFaive wrote:]
>>  > >
>>  > > >I don't have an [h] anywhere near my [w]'s (Wisconsin dialect), so I
>>  don't
>>  > > >even know what this sounds like. Any good sound files for this?
>>  > >
>>  > >Bob Dylan, Lay Lady Lay. He could blow out a candle with his
>>"...stay with
>>  > >your man a hhhhhhhwile"
>>  >
>>  > As Peter Trudgill pointed out in a 1983 paper ("Acts of Conflicting
>>  > Identity"), Dylan tried to use a Midland/Appalachian accent in his early
>>  > songs, often with hypercorrection.  Hence "a while" was [e
>>hwail] (or maybe
>>  > even [e hwal]?) and "the times they are [e tSendZiN]."  As a Minnesotan,
>>  > Dylan would have never used [hw] in his own persona, and I wonder if he
>>  > didn't drop it in his later songs too?
>>
>>"Lay Lady Lay" wasn't that early of a song in the Dylan oeuvre -- it's from
>>1969, off the "Nashville Skyline" album (his 9th album in 8 years). I don't
>>recall what Trudgill has to say on the matter, but my sense is that Dylan
>>didn't lose his singing accent in the way that the Beatles and the Stones
>>eventually gave up on Americanized phonology as Trudgill describes.
>>
>>
>>--Ben Zimmer
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>Actually, Trudgill only cites one song from Dylan, and it's neither of the
>two I cited above; I use those two in class, along with this one from
>Trudgill:
>
>You may be an [aembaes at d@]
>To England or [@] France
>You may [la:k] to gamble
>You [ma:t] [la:k] to dance . . . (from _Slow Train Coming_, 1979)
>
>He notes that Dylan, "from Minnesota, in the American Mid-West," has /ai/ =
>[ai] and non-prevocalic /r/ in his speech but uses [a:] and r-loss in his
>singing style (1983, p. 146).  He fails to note, though, that Dylan used
>[ae] in both 'France' and 'dance'--typical of his half-assed attempt at
>British English.  But I must admit I really haven't followed him since
>about that time.
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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