Pronunciation question (from L. Urdang)

[Charles Doyle]

I have heard that schwaful pronunciation, but I have no sense of its distribution. In the other direction, though, don't we sometimes hear "didn't" as a monosyllable--almost homophonous with "dint" (perhaps from New Yorkers)?

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 28 May 2007 22:34:15 -0400
>From: Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>Subject: Pronunciation question (from L. Urdang)
>
>>From Larry Urdang, who was having trouble sending to the list:
>
>----- Forwarded message from Laurence Urdang <urdang at sbcglobal.net> -----
>  Colleagues,
>
>  [IPA is not available in my email font.  I tried to keyboard the unique characters in Word, then copy them here from there, but that wouldn't work, which is why I have described "X."  For some unknown reason, the schwa copied.]
>
>  In my many years of experience in establishing the [phonetic symbols and in transcribing the pronunciations of words for dictionaries (Funk & Wagnalls International Edition, Random  House Unabridged, Collins English Dictionary, etc.), I have always regarded the n in words like didn’t, wouldn’t,  couldn’t, shouldn’t, etc. as  a syllabic: ['dIdXt] (where X is a lower-case roman "n", with a tiny circle below it), etc., because that’s the way they were pronounced by native speakers of English.
>  In recent years, I have noted that their pronunciation has shifted to the use of a full schwa: ['dIdənt], etc.  The change appears to be very deliberate and emphatic: people are pointedly saying the latter rather than the former as if it were a mark of culture or sophistication or, perhaps, just for clarity of articulation.
>  Am I hearing things, or has this change been noticed by others?  I suggest that it might not be a change but that the schwa pronunciation might be increasing in frequency.
>  Has anybody else noticed this, or am I just “hearing things”?  Has any written comment appeared on the subject?
>  Laurence Urdang
>  4 Laurel Drive
>  Old Lyme, CT 06371
>  urdang at sbcglobal.net

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