dangers of dialect

[Tom Zurinskas]

Good one.  That poor cat.

To me dialect is mostly about pronunciation rather than colloquialisms.

The worst part about dialects is the confusion it can cause, like the above example of the word, "line," mistaken for the word "lion".

In ATC the two most confused numbers are 5 and 9, both having the same vowel.  Controllers and pilots are instructed to say "niner" for 9.  This vowel similarity portends a problem with "awe-droppers" putting the "ah" (~aa) sound in the word "off" (~auf) giving it the same vowel as "on" (~aan).  In a noisy environment an awe-dropper giving the instruction to leave something "off" (~aaf) could be interpreted as "on".  Not good.  There is no good thing coming out of awe-dropping.

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













----------------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:50:09 -0800
> From: zwicky at STANFORD.EDU
> Subject: dangers of dialect
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Arnold Zwicky
> Subject: dangers of dialect
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> illustrated here:
>
> http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/dialect-dangerous-to-cats/
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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