"Le-a"

Wed Jul 1 22:59:15 UTC 2009

_Le-a_ pronounced "Ladasha"?

Using my native intuition as a speaker of "Ebonic," I *state
unequivocally*, not merely *claim*, that no one at all who spoke
Ebonically would - or even *could* - pronounce the spelling _Le-a_ as
"Ladasha" - presumably [l@'d&S@] - without having to have it explained
to him. Even if you're a racist, you couldn't claim that there is a
variety of BE or of any other dialect of AmE whose speakers pronounce
the hyphen as [daS]. Cf. Flip Wilson's

"GO-rilla, spelled "jee oh d[&]sh ..."

The most-likely attempt at a pronunciation of this string by a random,
Ebonic-speaking reader is "Lee-ey" [,lij 'e]. (The first pronunciation
that came to mind for me was ['le "a], the approximate pronunciation
used by someone I once knew who spelled her name as "Lea.") I further
*state* that the pronunciation of a name spelled out as "Ladasha" *is*
either [,le 'da S@] or [l@ 'da S@] or even [l@'dejS@]. But [l@'d&S@]?!
No.

Down in Texas, I had a cousin, Ladell ['le"de at l], one of the few black
marines of WWII, and there was a neighbor girl named Levorice ["li 'vo
rIs] alternating with ["li 'vo Is]. Another cousin, Cassandra, is
forever having to correct people who pronounce her name as
"Cass[a]ndra," despite hearing the "Cass[&]ndra" used in the family.

O.T.: Levorice had a cousin, Alherod, i.e. "al Herod," nicknamed
"B.B.", which has caused me to doubt the common claim that the
nickname, "B. B.," of bluesman Riley "B.B." King is based on an
earlier nickname, "Beale Street Blues Boy." Rather, this latter is
more likely based upon an earlier "B.B.," probably from "Big Boy," a
common BE term of endearment for male children. Cf. the other
well-known bluesman, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup.

Of course, none of this *proves* anything WRT either "Le-a" or "B.B.," but WTF?

-Wilson

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 12:01 PM, Joel S. Berson<Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: "Le-a"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> <html>
> <body>
> <font size=3D3>I prefer "Lehyphena" and "Leminusa" --
> one can imagine Greek and Latin derivations and associations.<br><br>
> Joel<br><br>
> At 6/30/2009 01:07 AM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:<br>
> <blockquote type=3Dcite class=3Dcite cite=3D"">On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 12:40
> AM, Se=E1n Fitzpatrick<br>
> <grendel.jjf at verizon.net> wrote:<br>
> ><br>
> > My son was graduated from high school a few weeks ago.  While
> loitering in<br>
> > the halls during his last days, he overheard a teacher, an
> attendance<br>
> > warden, describe to another a student whose first name was
> =93La=97a=94,<br>
> > pronounced Ladasha.<br><br>
> <a href=3D"http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp" eudora=3D"autourl=
> ">
> http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp</a><br><br>
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--
-Wilson
â€“â€“â€“
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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