Re: [ADS-L] Pronuncia tion question (from L. Urdang)

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 5/29/07 10:23:17 AM, t-irons at MOREHEAD-ST.EDU writes:


> I have noticed the change in the pronunciation of the contracted n't
> at the end of aux verbs among especially younger speakers but had not
> been able to figure out exactly what the change is.  I think he has it
> right.  What is something like a syllabic /n/ for me has evolved into
> a full schwa.
> 

No one has mentioned that "didn't" has often been pronunced with a glottal 
stop allophone of the /d/. My sense is that I am hearing this less among the 
young, with an unvoiced /d/ instead. I wonder if this is what Larry is noticing.

Also, I don't hear a schwa so much as a barred-I. So what I am hearing is 

[dItInt] (unaspirated [t])

rather than 

[dI?Int].

Of course, I am in the South (but the majority of my students) are not. By 
the way, they don't say

[studIns} or [stju?ns] only [studns].

It is perhaps worth pointing out that "Oh no you didn't!" is a kind of buzz 
phrase among the young, patterned (I think) after some television comedy skit 
pseudo-Puerto-Rican pronunciation. 


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