Pronouncing "Massachusetts"

Fri Aug 3 19:52:44 UTC 2007

You may be right on his Mississippi; I'll listen again.  It surprised me
because I associate the reduction with Southern speech, and I don't think
Cooper is from the South.  I remember the Indianapolis pron. too.  But the
Minneapolis reduction was associated with Scandinavian immigrants, like my
grandmothers, and was regularly mocked.  I don't think I've ever heard it
from native Minnesotans.

At 01:45 PM 8/3/2007, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Pronouncing "Massachusetts"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Beverly,
>
>This is pretty common with continuants, especially with identical
>vowel on either side; the number of syllables is reduced but the
>moras (morae for the fussy) are not. This reduced pronunciation of
>Mississippi has a long (geminate) first /s/; I bet the Minneapolis
>one did too. In Indiana, there is an amazing three mora /n/ in the
>fast speech pronunciation of what sounds like "nnnapolis."
>
>dInIs
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> >Subject:      Re: Pronouncing "Massachusetts"
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
> >
> >Speaking of pronunciations, has anyone else noticed that Anderson Cooper
> >has been talking about the River with only three syllables?  It's Missippi
> >for him.  But then, some old-timers in Minnesota used to speak of
> >Minn-ap'-o-lis, with four instead of five syllables.
> >
> >At 12:21 PM 8/3/2007, you wrote:
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >>Subject:      Pronouncing "Massachusetts"
> >>------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
> >>
> >>Some months ago one of our distinguished scholars confessed to a "boyhood
> >>pronunciation" of "Massachusetts" that might be regarded as highly
> >>insulting by residents of that state.  Indeed, I had a student from
> >>Tennessee some twenty years ago who was using that very pronunciation well
> >>nto his college years.
> >>
> >>    The following true incident of sociophonological conflict is reported
> >>  by J. Douglas Harvey in his WWII memoir, _Boys, Bombs, and Brussels
> >>  Sprouts_ (Toronto: McClennd & Stewart, 1981), pp. 118-19. Harvey was a
> >>  pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force:
> >>
> >>    "We were standing at the bar of a pub one night, enjoying the convivial
> >>  atmosphere, when we were joined by two English couples....The
> >>  conversation finally got around to the fact that [Arnold Rose] was an
> >>  American and...[o]ne of the wives asked Rose where he came from in the
> >>  United States.
> >>    "'Massachusetts,' Rose said.
> >>    "'What?' they all asked. 'Where did you say?'
> >>    "'Massachusetts,' he repeated.
> >>    "'Massa-two-shits!' squealed one of the wives. 'Massa-two-shits!' She
> >>  was screaming with laughter....'Massa-two-shits,' she bellowed,
> >>  completely out of control. 'Oh, I say, can you imagine?
> >>Massa-two-shits!'....
> >>    "Rose was furious. 'For Christ's sake, what's funny?' he
> >>  demanded....'Come on,' he yelled at me. 'Bloody stupid limeys, they make
> >>  me sick!'  Rose dragged me towards the door. 'We should let them fight
> >>  their own goddamned war. Stupid bastards!'"
> >>
> >>    One might object that intoxication or a slight hearing defect combined
> >>  with an unfortunately naive sense of humor was responsible for this
> >>  _contretemps_, but the reports of linguistic professionals adduced above
> >>  suggest that more is going on here.  Observe that, despite superficial
> >>  appearances, the erroneous pronunciation is not a typical case of
> >>  metathesis, as both the original phoneme /C/ (the voiceless palato-velar
> >>  affricate) must be analyzed into component phones before the
> >>  transposition can be made; and that the original palato-velar /s/ must be
> >>  correspondingly made an affricate.
> >>
> >>    It is all very curious to me, unless one posits that a desire for
> >>  simple, ribald paranomasia lies behind such occurrences.  This
> >>  interpretation I am not prepared, as yet, to accept, for it does not go
> >>  quite far enough in explaining the seemingly genuine dialectal, rather
> >>  than merely _ad hoc_, examples of transposition.
> >>
> >>    JL
> >>
> >>
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>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>Morrill Hall 15-C
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
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