ont/ahnt (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Dan Goodman]

Paul Johnston wrote:
>
> Dan,
> You come from farther north in the Hudson Valley than I do--I merge them, as (pace Wells) people from New
York City would.  I wonder if your area doesn't connect with New England
in this regard, and wonder if
people in the Albany/Troy/Schenectady area would distinguish them, too.
(in other words, how far west does
rounded LOT go?)

Note that I don't know whether people younger than me raised in the same
  area would or wouldn't merge them.  I'm told that people raised in
Kingston now sound like NYC people.  I was raised in a more rural area,
about ten miles west; dialect change is probably slower there.

There was immigration from New England.  I don't know how the numbers
compared to those of English-speaking immigrants from the NYC area.  Or
elsewhere -- some British immigrants (including those who settled in
Ireland Corners) probably spoke Ulster Scots more than English.

And, of course, there's also possible influence from Dutch.  And
possibly from French, Low German, High German, Frisian....  Put all
together, working out all the possible influences could easily be a
lifetime project.

>
> Paul Johnston
> On Oct 6, 2010, at 1:26 PM, Dan Goodman wrote:
>>
>> David Wake wrote:
>>> Wikipedia has an article on the 'father-bother merger":
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_low_back_vowels#Father-bother_merger
>>>
>>> According to Wells, it's only in Newfoundland, Eastern New England and
>>> (partly) New York City that they are distinguished within North
>>> America.  Outside North America (including the Caribbean) they are
>>> distinguished by all native accents of English.
>> I distinguish them, and I'm not from any of those regions.  It's
>> possible that the Hudson Valley Dialect has undergone that change since
>> my childhood.  (1950s, Ulster County NY.)
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dan Goodman
>> "I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
>> Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
>> Journal dsgood.dreamwidth.org (livejournal.com, insanejournal.com)
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
Journal dsgood.dreamwidth.org (livejournal.com, insanejournal.com)

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