Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"

[Paul Johnston]

Sorry about this--I'm trying to represent the low back rounded vowel
here.

Paul Johnston
On Feb 21, 2009, at 3:48 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"
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> At 3:29 PM -0500 2/21/09, Paul Johnston wrote:
>> The dialects that have this are either non-rhotic now, or
>> historically were so.  There's a merger of an earlier /wOnt/~/wDnt/ =
>> were not, with early /r/ dropping before alveolars, stemming from
>> some sort of Eastern English settlement, most probably, with the /
>> wont/ from will not, it seems to me.  The distribution listed (New
>> England + E VA, E NC) is consistent with settlement from East Anglia
>> (North) and the Northeast Midlands (South), both areas of which have
>> this /r/ dropping, and something like /D/ or /^/ for this vowel.
>
> Can you remind me (and maybe us) of what /D/ is in the system you're
> assuming?  In the version of ASCII IPA I use, it's the initial
> consonant of "this", which it clearly isn't in this context.
>
> LH
>
>>
>> Paul Johnston
>> On Feb 20, 2009, at 8:34 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
>>
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
>>> Subject:      Re: Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"
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>>> The "won't" that is articulated in eastern NC in the sense I have
>>> described
>>> is clearly what most of us would interpret as the normal
>>> contraction of
>>> "will not".  No "r" sound is discerned.
>>>
>>> Bill P.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Mark Mandel" <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>>> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 8:14 PM
>>> Subject: Re: Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"
>>>
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>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      Re: Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"
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>>>> --
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>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 7:52 PM, Bill Palmer
>>>> <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Well, I appreciate that explanation.
>>>>>
>>>>> So let me move on to a question that I think this list is
>>>>> supposed to
>>>>> address.  If not, then just slam-dunk me.
>>>>>
>>>>> In North Carolina, where I live, and particularly in the eastern
>>>>> part,
>>>>> there
>>>>> is a tendency to use "won't" to mean "was not" or "were not".
>>>>> Ex:  Q: "Who ate that last piece of pie?"
>>>>>       A: "It won't me".
>>>>>
>>>>> Does this practice exist anywhere else?  I have lived in and
>>>>> travelled
>>>>> thru
>>>>> much of the South, and don't recall hearing it anywhere else.
>>>>>
>>>>> Bill Palmer
>>>>
>>>> I can't reply knowledgeably, but let me assure you that in terms of
>>>> appropriateness your question IS a slam-dunk.
>>>>
>>>> Is this the pronunciation I've seen written as "warn't" in the same
>>>> sort of context? "about 198,000" rgh ("raw Google hits") for
>>>> "warn't".
>>>> The first page or so shows a few ringers, but most of them look
>>>> real,
>>>> such as
>>>>
>>>> - it warn't always like this [blog title]
>>>> - What does 'there warn't much sand in my craw' mean?
>>>> - Day 140: "We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all.
>>>> Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't.
>>>> You
>>>> feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft."
>>>> - And when it come to character, warn't it Compeyson as had been to
>>>> the school, and warn't it his schoolfellows as was in this position
>>>> and in that...
>>>>
>>>> Those last two are from Twain (Huckleberry Finn) and Dickens!
>>>> (_Great
>>>> Expectations_, in Google Book Search, http://tinyurl.com/d5qndc)
>>>>
>>>> Mark A. Mandel
>>>>
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