"Heynabonics. Kina funny, hey na?"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Fri Nov 16 20:20:42 UTC 2007


FWIW, four minutes on YouTube of a "class" on the dialect of NE PA.
Not much new, except for the use of _hey na?_ for "right? you agree?
okay wit chu?", etc.

It cracks my wife up, probably because, anymore, her family speaks the
local standard dialect and not the true local one being "taught" in
the film. The only things interesting about my wife's family's speech,
anymore, is the use of Positive Anymore and that some family members
say "Wilkes-[baeri]," whereas others say "Wilkes-[bar@]." This
variation is a *widespread* local phenomenon that only I seem to
notice. It's like the variation between "[seint] Louis" and "[saent]
Louis." In Saint Louis, the former pronunciation is preferred. In
Wilkes-Barre, though, anyone can use either pronunciation

-Wilson
--
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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list