Surprise

[Jonathan Lighter]

I rarely pronounce the first r in "surprise," but I can't imagine eliding it
in "surmise" (now that I try, it actually seems difficult!).

You may not believe this, but...when I was four or five I began to notice
that most New Yorkers, including my  family, were what I would now call
"non-rhotic" - quite different from most of the old-movie cowboys I was
watching every afternoon on Channel 13.

I deliberately set out to get rhotic so that, when I grew up and went
West, I'd fit right in with Roy and the other punchers.  And you know
what? My dream partly came true!  I rarely miss an r !

Coincidence? Or...?

JL
On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 10:57 AM, <ronbutters at aol.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Re: Surprise
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This is variable in my speech, though the /r/ tends to be realized only in
> nonallegro speech. I expect this is true of most rhotic dialects. I don't
> THINK that I have deletion in "surmise"--but I am wary of self-reports
> (maybe it gets weakened variably in allegro speech).
>
>
>
> Other such words: surreal ...
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:07 am
> Subject: [ADS-L] Surprise
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 1. Does anyone with a rhotic dialect rhoticize the first "r" in
> "surprise" (I don't).
>
> 2. Does anyone know of any other words that in your rhotic dialect
> that have an unrhoticized postvocalic "r"?
>
> --
> Randy Alexander
> Jilin City, China
> My Manchu studies blog:
> http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu
>
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