dialect of Elena Kagan

Tom Zurinskas truespel at HOTMAIL.COM
Wed May 12 10:46:50 UTC 2010


What was missing for me was the typical NYC "r-dropping".  "New Yorker" become ~~Nue Yauku~~ (New Yawk-uh).  Missing that I would not say she was from New York City.  I assume she trained herself out of the "r-dropping".

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
see truespel.com phonetic spelling




> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Laurence Horn
> Subject: Re: dialect of Elena Kagan
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9:21 PM -0400 5/11/10, Geoff Nathan wrote:
>>I've only done a quick listen to the link Tom posted, but she has
>>pretty much a classic, if understated, New York accent. Both the
>>/ay/ vowel and the /oh/ vowel are typical NYC. The way she says
>>'law' and 'all', as an open-o with a schwa off-glide (not raised,
>>however, so not what used to be a lower-class version), and the /ay/
>>vowel (as in 'time') with a slightly rounded nucleus (technically
>>backwards script-a).
>>
>>I tried using IPA in these messages a few turns back and it turned
>>into gibberish, so I won't bother.
>>
>>She's not an 'awe-dropper', of course, because she lives east of the
>>Mississippi (simplifying immensely...).
>>
>>Geoff
>
> And it's obviously the *correct* accent, since she's a graduate of
> Hunter College Elementary School (albeit 15 years after me, and Geoff
> Nunberg).
>
> LH
>
>
>
>>
>>Geoffrey S. Nathan
>>Faculty Liaison, C&IT
>>and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
>>+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
>>+1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)
>>
>>----- "Tom Zurinskas" wrote:
>>
>>> From: "Tom Zurinskas"
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 8:54:12 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>>> Subject: dialect of Elena Kagan
>>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Tom Zurinskas
>>> Subject: dialect of Elena Kagan
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Elena Kagan. I can't hear West side NYC at all. Pretty standard USA
>>> accent. Not an "awe dropper".
>>>
>>>
>>>http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/11/meet-elena-kagan?utm_source=email54&utm_medium=image&utm_campaign=court
>>>
>>>
>>> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
>>> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>> Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your
>>> inbox.
>>>
>>>http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list