positionality = "social status or position"

Geoff Nathan geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU
Thu Aug 30 10:06:10 UTC 2007


Strange--I had always assumed that 'dubya' was the standard destressed
version of the word, found, for example, in pronunciations of the call
letters of radio and TV stations  east of the Mississippi--WDET, WSIU
etc.  What makes 'Dubya' (pseudo-) Southern is the fact that it's not
destressed, and in fact probably contrastively stressed.

So now I'll have to go listen...  Shouldn't be hard, since radio
stations have to announce their call letters at least once an hour.

Geoff

--
Geoffrey S. Nathan
Computing and Information Technology and Department of English
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI, 48202
geoffnathan at wayne.edu
C&IT Phone (313) 577-1259
English Phone (313) 577-8621

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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