Standard US English Dialect?

[Dennis Preston]

/uw/ frontIng among the young is often not a good regional cue since
it often is a (sometimes lexically restricted) example of Valley Girl
fronting. /ow/ fronting is a good midland indicator but everybody in
the back get to the front is a good southern indicator. Since
Maryland sits right there between mid and south, such fronting would
not be strange; whether it carries over into DC speech (whatever that
is) is an interesting question.

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: Standard US English Dialect?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Do you get some localized features like /o/- and /u/-fronting with
>those DC suburbanites?  It's quite pronounced in both MD (including
>Balmer and ITS suburbs) and VA, and seems to go up the social scale a
>fair bit, especially among female speakers.
>
>Yours,
>Paul
>On Apr 15, 2008, at 1:41 AM, Dennis Preston wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Standard US English Dialect?
>>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  ---------
>>
>>  Indeed. I have three nephews who grew up right on the Bethesda border
>>  with DC. WI mother and CA father. They were distinct from both (no
>>  NCS; no low-back merger) but otherwise unremarkable. Odd I never
>>  thought much about them. Plenty of tapes of the little buggers (now
>>  full-grown); maybe I'll give an ear (well, a machine).
>>
>>  dInIs
>>
>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
>>>  Subject:      Standard US English Dialect?
>>>  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>  ----------
>>>
>>>  DC is also such a mixing bowl that one tends to get a lot of
>>>  leveling, right?
>>>  Particularly in the suburbs. Over the years, when I couldn't place
>>>  a white
>>>  Duke student's accent, I would guess "DC suburbs" and very often
>>>  got it right.
>>>  (African American and even Asian students were generally much more
>>>  difficult to
>>>  place, for a variety of sociolinguistic reasons.) Of course, Duke
>>>  has a lot
>>>  of students from the DC suburbs, but Duke also gets a lot of
>>>  students from
>>>  suburban Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, etc.
>>>
>>>  In a message dated 4/14/08 11:45:24 AM, preston at MSU.EDU writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>>   Yes, DC always does surprisingly well, but the East Coaster the
>>>>  South
>>>>   is the better it does as well. SC higher than GA, GA higher than
>>>>  AL,
>>>>   etc....We actually have some qualitative evidence for this; some of
>>>>   the fieldworkers asked respondents why they ranked the DC area so
>>>>   high, and many said that they figured good English was spoke in the
>>>>   capital. This seemed truer of southern and south midland
>>>>  respondents
>>>>   than of northern ones (who know they speak the best English).
>>>>
>>>>   dInIs
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>  --
>>  Dennis R. Preston
>>  University Distinguished Professor
>>  Department of English
>>  Morrill Hall 15-C
>>  Michigan State University
>>  East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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