Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:03 PM -0500 2/21/09, Paul Johnston wrote:
>Sorry about this--I'm trying to represent the low back rounded vowel
>here.

Ah, my bad.  What I thought was a capital D was actually a
steroid-infused upside-down script a (that last character should be
viewed in a font like Comic Sans).

LH

>
>Paul Johnston
>On Feb 21, 2009, at 3:48 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>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"
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>---------
>>
>>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:
>>>
>>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>-----------------------
>>>>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"
>>>>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>--
>>>>---------
>>>>
>>>>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"
>>>>
>>>>>---------------------- Information from the mail
>>>>>header -----------------------
>>>>>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"
>>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>--
>>>>>----------
>>>>>
>>>>>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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>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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