Pronouncing "Massachusetts"
Beverly Flanigan
flanigan at OHIO.EDU
Sat Aug 4 19:13:03 UTC 2007
I listened carefully again last night, and I don't think Anderson Cooper
lengthens or geminates the word the way Wilson implies is done in BE (and
general Southern?). It seems to come out as [mIsIpi] to my ear.
At 12:17 AM 8/4/2007, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: Pronouncing "Massachusetts"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>"Miss'ssippi" is pretty much the "standard" in BE. I've heard
>"Missuh-sippi" in careful speech. Indianapolis tends to be something
>like "Innuh-nap'l at s," when not replaced by "Naptown."
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 8/3/07, Dennis Preston <preston at msu.edu> 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
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>---------------------------------
> > >>Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail,
> > >>news, photos & more.
> > >>
> > >>------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > >------------------------------------------------------------
> > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Dennis R. Preston
> > University Distinguished Professor
> > Department of English
> > Morrill Hall 15-C
> > Michigan State University
> > East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list