American accent test
Wilson Gray
hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Mon Mar 24 22:13:33 UTC 2008
Well, I hope that it was a while ago, dInIs. Back in 1972, Halle had
already declared in classroom lectures at the 'Tute that SPE was
wrong, to the extent that the old standard, /aU/, had evolved to a new
standard, /aeU/. Of course, he could have been unduly - and wrongly?
- influenced by Chomsky's dialect. :-)
Well, not, I guess. The pronunciation [laeUd] is now so common even
among younger black speakers that I tend to stutter when saying
[laUd]. And they also eat cheeseburgers. As many here no doubt recall,
when I was in the Army in the 'Fifties, the eating of cheeseburgers -
in fact, any combination of meat with cheese - by blacks was so alien
that "cheeseburger" was the "standard," non-derogatory slang term for
"white GI." We referred to ourselves as "hamburgers," of course.
BTW, speaking of the military, there was a version of "stop-loss" in
those days, too. [The Army sucks!] It was called "extension." Any
soldier on active duty could be retained by being "extended" and, as
today, members of the Reserves on active duty could be retained and
reservists not on active duty could be called up, individually, if
necessary. It was weird, because a GI could be a "slicksleeve" on
active duty, but, e.g., a captain in the Reserves. So, if he or his
Reserve unit was "activated," he would go overnight from buck private
to commissioned officer.
-Wilson
So, what are these Iraq pussies whining about? We had it tough in the
"Outpost of Freedom," too. For those who no longer remember, the
"Outpost of Freedom" was West Berlin.
But, seriously, folks, nobody was getting killed, in those days. No
Americans, anyway. We mainly just got drunk at the EM club and in the
GI bars. If we were working the "mid," or graveyard, shift, we'd often
go on duty drunk. The one German word that everyone knew was
"Katzenjammer," or "hangover."
-Wilson
-Wilson
On 3/24/08, Dennis Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject: Re: American accent test
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson,
>
> Labov is particularly impressed by the fronting
> of the onset of the /aU/ diphthong in
> Philadelphia, a feature he notes as distinctly
> Southern.
>
> You will also be interested in knowing (if you
> don't already) that Labov took a Black speaker's
> sentence with the word "house" in it and
> resynthesized it so that the onset was not at /a/
> but at /ae/. When he played both versions for
> Philadelphians (black and white), they
> overwhelmingly said that the /ae/ version was
> spoken by a white speaker (although the rest of
> the sentence had characteristically AAVE
> features).
>
> dInIs
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail
> >header -----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject: Re: American accent test
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >dInIs writes, "Got to pick and choose your features to make [the claim
> >that Philadelphia is the US's northernmost southern city] true." As
> >the bruz 'n' cuz would put it, "You sayin' a tas'e!" I first heard
> >middle-class Philly BE spoken before, for all practical purposes, I
> >had ever been anyplace except Saint Louis. Hence, I was still quite
> >sensitive to the "funny" ways of speaking used by outsiders. Philly BE
> >struck me as being as different from Saint Louis BE as NYC BE was
> >(which is not to say that they showed any particular similarities to
> >each other, to the naÔve ear). I've since had occasion to hear
> >middle-class, white Philadelphians, e.g. Chomsky, speak. They don't
> >sound in any way Southern to me.
> >
> >On the other hand, I mistook (white) Bostonians for both New Yorkers
> >and Southerners, when I first heard examples of their speech.
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On 3/24/08, Dennis Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the
> >>mail header -----------------------
> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>
> >> Poster: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
> >>
> >> Subject: Re: American accent test
> >>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>
> >> As Labov says, Philadelphia is the US's northernmost southern city.
> >> (Got to pick and choose your features to make that true.)
> >>
> >> dInIs
> >>
> >>
> >> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> >-----------------------
> >> >Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>
> >> >Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >>
> >> >Subject: Re: American accent test
> >>
> >>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> >
> >>
> >> >For me, it missed by a mile, saying that I'm from Philadelphia.
> >> >However, if I interpreted the bar graph on the answer page correctly,
> >> >the Philly accent isn't very far removed from the Southern accent.
> >> >IMO, though, this is simply unbelievable.
> >> >
> >> >-Wilson
> >> >
> >>
> >> >On 3/23/08, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> >>-----------------------
> >> >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>
> >> >> Poster: Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> >>
> >> >> Subject: American accent test
> >> >>
> >>
> >>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> >>
> >> >> This site tries to locate your American accent. For me it came
> >> >>close, but just missed.
> >> >>
> >> >> http://gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> >>
> >> >> See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional
> >> >>Poems" at authorhouse.com.
> >> >>
> >> >> _________________________________________________________________
> >> >> Watch "Cause Effect," a show about real people making a real
> >> >>difference. Learn more.
> >> >> http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/MTV/?source=text_watchcause
> >> >>
> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> >> >> 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.
> >> >-----
> >> > -Sam'l Clemens
> >> >
> >> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> >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
> >>
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> 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.
> >-----
> > -Sam'l Clemens
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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