isoglosses for hw/w

[Wilson Gray]

If North Midland distinguishes between, e.g. "hem, ten" and "him,
tin," a distinction unknown in California, then U.S. West can't
possibly be what happened when North Midland expanded westward.

BTW, has anyone besides me, who have a special reason for doing so,
noticed how Southern (I use the term in its loosest sense, being but
feebly learned in dialectology; once the technical terms move much
beyond "isogloss," I need a cab in order to catch up) the speech of
the farming areas of California sounds? I've felt a draft in towns as
large as Fresno and even though that was the first place that I ever
was in in which public signage, e.g. in the Greyhound station, was in
Spanish as well as in English.

-Wilson

On Jan 28, 2008 10:17 AM, David Bowie <db.list at pmpkn.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
> Subject:      Re: isoglosses for hw/w
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From:    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.
>
> Not sure if it's worth the electrons, but the hw/w distinction may not
> be well, but it is certainly very much alive along the Wasatch Front of
> Utah. And yet i remember being taught at one point that the US West was
> simply what happened when the North Midland expanded westward...
>
> (Maybe we need a "Lies my lx professors told me" thread. :)
>
> --
> David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
>      Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>      house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>      chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>
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