Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"

[Tom Zurinskas]

Speaking about "won't", there's an interesting vowel swap (merger) for "won't" between long o ~woent (~oe as in toe) and long u ~wuent (~ue as in true).  Many say it one way and many the other.  My parents favor ~wuent.

Note:
m-w.com has an error and comes up "wont".
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/won't has ~wuent
http://www.answers.com/topic/won-t  ~wuent (same speaker?)
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861713848  says ~woent
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/won%5C't  says ~woent

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com



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> Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:29:13 -0500
> From: paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU
> Subject: Re: Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Paul Johnston
> Subject: Re: Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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.
>
> Paul Johnston
> On Feb 20, 2009, at 8:34 PM, Bill Palmer wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Bill Palmer
>> 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"
>> To:
>> 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
>>> Poster: Mark Mandel
>>> Subject: Re: Dyslexia and English Orthography was "surprise"
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ----------
>>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 7:52 PM, Bill Palmer
>>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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