Ahra-lessnes in white-Southern speech (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

I'm with Bill, except that I hear "wethuh," not "whethuh."  Both actually,
but they're not synonymous in the South.

JL

On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Ahra-lessnes in white-Southern speech (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> Can you give some specific example words beyond "gummint" in which this
> might be seen?  I live in Huntsville, and might recognize some of this
> speech.
>
> If I look through the text of the email below, the following pronunciations
> wouldn't sound odd to my ear:
>
> Ah-meh-kihn (American)
> Suthun (southern)
> Nor-thun-ners (northerners)
> Wheh-thuh (weather)
>
> Bill
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> > Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 10:18 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Ahra-lessnes in white-Southern speech
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Ahra-lessnes in white-Southern speech
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > Are there any white-Southern speakers left who *don't* use [r] in all
> > the places where Northerners do? I watched a Weather Channel show on
> > the Great Tornado Season of '74. Many ordinary white folk from
> > Kentucky and Alabama were interviewed WRT their memories of that
> > season. Only one speaker, from around Dothan and Huntsville, Alabama,
> > failed to use [r] and that was in only one word: *government*, which
> > he pronounced as approximately "gum mint" [g^m mI at nt].
> >
> > They all used what black speakers usually characterize as the
> > "hillbilly" dialect. The "Southern" dialect is the ahra-less one
> > usually attempted nowadays only by Northern actors attempting to
> > portray Southern-speakers.
> >
> > Is BE the only r-less AmE dialect left with a number of speakers large
> > enough to bother to count?
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > –––
> > 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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