Ahra-lessnes in white-Southern speech (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Back in the day, ca.1940-45, when coal was the usual source of power
for everything from steam plants to home heating in Saint Louis,,
there was a common radio commercial:

[with echo] "OLD ABE" COAL!!!

An[sic] onnis val-yew f'om Kin-tuckih, suh!

Nobody on the show re The Great Tornado Season of '08 used "suh" or
any other example of stereotypically-Southern r-lessness, EXCEPT for
ONE person who said, ONE TIME, "gum-mint." Hence, I am unable to
provide any other examples of r-lessness because there were NO others.
THAT is my point.

My apologies for posting a trivial comment that is more difficult to
understand than a comment of substance.

-Wilson

On Mon, Jun 15, 2009 at 4:57 PM, Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: Ahra-lessnes in white-Southern speech (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm with Bill, except that I hear "wethuh," not "whethuh." Â 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
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> Subject: Â  Â  Â 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? Â I live in Huntsville, and might recognize some of this
>> speech.
>>
>> If I look through the text of the email below, the following pronunciatio=
> ns
>> 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: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject: Â  Â  Â 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
>> > =E2=80=93=E2=80=93=E2=80=93
>> > 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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-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

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