antedating (?) "Katy, bar the door" (1890)

[Charles Doyle]

As someone dwelling in Old Yeller country, I would assume that the "-er" spelling at the end of "yeller" (as well as in friendly or affectionate "feller") usually indicates /@/. Which is not to say that [r] doesn't intrude sometimes, but perhaps less frequently than in "r-less" dialects of the northeastern US (JFK's nemesis "Cuber")?

--Charlie
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>
>Not just the Brits.  Am I writing in assuming, as I always have, that "yeller" as in "high yeller" (for skin pigmentation) or "Old Yeller" (for the eponymous pooch) is so written to indicate final /@/ rather than the standard /o/, and that the rhotic pronunciation is essentially the same as that below (or in "Eeyore")?
>
>LH

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