Michelle Obama's anticipatory retroflexion

[Wilson Gray]

When she said "scrimp," for a split-second, I thought that she'd said
"shrimp." But, seriously, folks, I didn't notice much peculiar in her
speech patterns. I heard the phenomenon described, now that it has
been called to my attention - I YouTubed it. However, I don't find it
worthy of discussion.

But, as The Philosopher has noted:

"Diffunt strokes for diffunt folks."

-Wilson

On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 11:46 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Michelle Obama's anticipatory retroflexion
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I noticed stronger and more consistent anticipatory retroflex
> assimilation in Michelle Obama's speech tonight that I've heard
> anywhere before.  All cases I noticed of initial /str/ clusters
> retroflexed the /s/.  In at least one case I heard "was strengthened"
> with retroflexion extending to the lenis alveolar fricative of "was."
> Perseverative retroflexion is common:  Ladefoged gives the example of
> "hardened" in which the /dnd/ is all retroflexed.  But anticipatory
> retroflexion isn't so wide-spread.  Does anyone know the dialect
> distribution of this feature?
>
> Herb
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
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.
-----
-Mark Twain

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