~ (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Paul Johnston]

Comments from natives of Massachusetts are appreciated here, but
impressionistically, her most salient feature, the lip /r/, is
probably a dialect feature in Worcester, MA, where she originally
comes from, and I've heard it from a number of people from west of
Boston myself, as well as a number of obviously local contractors on
New England-based programs like This Old House, and the late Sen. and
ex-Presidential candidate Paul Tsongas (from Lowell, MA).  ( Not a
scientific sample, I know--and I'd love to know the distribution of
this feature.  It's not in Providence, RI.)  Otherwise, I hear a
mixture of New York City and New England features, particularly in
her vowel system.

Paul Johnston
On Feb 22, 2009, at 4:08 PM, Alison Murie wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: ~ (UNCLASSIFIED)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> On Feb 22, 2009, at 3:09 PM, Paul Johnston wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: ~ (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>>
>> Tom,
>> That;'s because all the local Standards are 95% similar (I'd put it a
>> little less, but not much) on a phonemic basis. Most of the
>> differences are on the sub-phonemic level.  The consonant systems,
>> phonemically, are nearly identical all over the US, for instance.
>> The vowel systems do differ phonemically, but not much with this kind
>> of variety--your "awe-dropping", rhoticity vs. non-rhoticity (only a
>> few non-rhotic or, more likely, variably rhotic newscasters, but
>> those that are, Walters, King etc. are known for it) .  Some lexical
>> incidence differences appear in individual words, though this is the
>> stuff that the pronunciation guides concentrate on.  I'll give you
>> actual stats when I'm finished if you want to see them.  You'll be
>> surprised.
>>
>> Paul Johnston
> ~~~~~~~~
> Walters?  I've lived most of my life out of range of her voice, but
> the few times I have heard it  I have assumed her speech to be
> completely idiosyncratic, largely attributable to a speech impediment,
> not a dialect.
> AM
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org