LaGuardia", La Bomba"

Mon Feb 9 06:11:44 UTC 2009

At 2/8/2009 09:11 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>...
>I think we've already found some legitimate variation among New
>Yorkers on this, though.  Besides Joel (a no-schwa guy)

I apologize.  I wrote /lah gwahr dee ah/, but it's closer to /lah
gwah[r] dee uh/.  So I'm with Mark.  (And also I seem to lose the "r"
here sometimes, even though (if I understand the terminology! and my
own speech) I'm not generally an r-dropper.)

Joel

>and me (a
>double-schwa guy), there's Mark (single schwa, in the "Guardia").  I
>just asked my wife, a non-linguist who grew up in NY and Connecticut,
>what the other airport in New York besides Kennedy is called and she
>said it precisely Mark's way.  When I asked her why, she said "Wasn't
>that his name?"  So one man's stilted and artificial may be another
>man's, or woman's, careful.
>
>Carelessly,
>LH
>
>>In a message dated 2/8/09 10:12:33 AM, Berson at ATT.NET writes:
>>
>>
>>>  At 2/8/2009 11:06 AM, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>>>  >There is no way for me to demonstrate to you that your use of yourself as
>>>  an
>>>  >informant is inaccurate, but what you say flies in the face of
>>> thousands of
>>>  >hours of tape-recorded speech of
>>>  >Americans. If you always use [a] in "LaGuardia," you must sound
>>> like a very
>>>  >artificial and and stilted speaker to those who hear you.
>>>
>>>  I don't appreciate insults.  As an educated New Yorker, I probably
>>>  distinguish more phonetic variations than you do, and I also know how
>>>  an Italian name was pronounced.
>>>
>>>  >Unless of course you
>>>  >put significant stress on the first syllable (cf. "Lafayette").
>>>  >
>>>  >In a message dated 2/8/09 10:01:18 AM, Berson at att.net writes:
>>>  >
>>>  >
>>>  > > At 2/8/2009 10:48 AM, RonButters at aol.com wrote:
>>>  > > >In most (all?) varieties of American English, [a] reduces to schwa
>>>  > > >when unstressed. The pronunciation of "LaGuardia" with two schwas is
>>>  > > >totally normal in ordinary speech cadence. It is totally
>>> unremarkable.
>>>  > >
>>>  > > Not in my normal speech, and I would remark on it (or silently wonder
>>>  > > if the speaker was from out of town).
>>>  > >
>>>  > > Joel
>>>  > >
>>>  > >
>>>  > > >In a message dated 2/8/09 9:25:30 AM, Berson at ATT.NET writes:
>>>  > > >
>>>  > > >
>>>  > > >>At 2/8/2009 10:04 AM, James A. Landau
>>> <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:
>>>  > > >> >I checked the written transcript of Flight 1549 talking with New
>>>  > > >> >York TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control).  There were only a
>>>  > > >> >few words with "awe".  One, repeated several times, was
>>> "LaGuardia",
>>>  > > >> >which is most often pronounced /l@ 'gwawr dee @/.  This is odd,
>>>  > > >> >since it is an Italian name which Fiorella pronounced I don't know
>>>  > > >> >how but his ancestors pronounced /lah gwahr dee ah/.
>>>  > > >>
>>>  > > >>l@ by analogy with "the"?
>>>  > > >>
>>>  > > >>BTW, it's "Fiorello", not "la".  And while I listened to his reading
>>>  > > >>of the comics, I can't attest to his pronunciation, only mine --
>>>  > > >>which is /lah gwahr dee ah/.  Are recordings of his readings
>>>  > > >>extant?  Possibly he introducing himself.
>>>  > > >>
>>>  > > >>Also BTW, checking on the year of his readings, I notice that the
>>>  > > >>Wikipedia article separates La Guardia.
>>>  > > >>
>>>  > > >>Joel
>>>  > > >>
>>>  > > >>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>  > > >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>  > > >
>>>  > > >
>>>  > > >
>>>  > > >
>>>  > > >
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>>>  > >
>>>  >
>>>
>>>(http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?ncid=emlcntusmusi00000003)
>>>  > > >
>>>  > >
>>>  > >
>>>  > >
>>>  >
>>>  >
>>>  >
>>>  >
>>>  >**************
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>>>
>>>(http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?ncid=emlcntusmusi00000003)
>>>  >
>>>  >------------------------------------------------------------
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>>>
>>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>**************
>>Who's never won?  Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on
>>AOL Music.
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>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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