isoglosses for hw/w

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

My memory is hazy and the hour is late, but I recall that the loss of
aspiration was traditionally thought of as a feature of "Midland" speech, especially
the "North Midland." As such, one would expect AAVE to have preserved the
distinction longer, being a "South Midland/Southern" dialect. All of this has been
pretty well documented, though, and there is really no need for anecdotal
speculation--one can look it up pretty easily, I'd think.


In a message dated 1/27/08 10:47:56 PM, hwgray at GMAIL.COM writes:


> Once upon a time, I would have bet that all black people distinguished
> /hw/ from /w/. But the distinction is now clearly beginning to be
> lost, especially in the East. The distinction is maintained west of
> the Mississippi - Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, California - by
> both blacks and whites, in my experience, FWIW.
>
> -Wilson
>




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