Aunt; was Re: "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Tom Zurinskas]

If it's pronounced "ah" thentic then it's not "awe" thentic.


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






> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Gordon, Matthew J."
> Subject: Re: Aunt; was Re: "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The Linguistic Atlas projects found the pronunciation of 'aunt' with /a/ (i.e. AHNT) to have just the opposite social meaning in parts of the South. Kurath and McDavid (1961: 135), e.g., "The few instance of /a/ recorded in aunt from Charleston, SC southward occur in folk speech (four of the six in the speech of Negroes). Here cultured speakers avoid /a/." This seems to square with reports I have heard from African-American students who have /a/ in this word and regard the /ae/ pronunciation to be the pretentious one.
>
> -Matt Gordon
>
>
> On 10/7/10 10:00 AM, "Joel S. Berson" wrote:
>
> At 10/6/2010 09:28 PM, Jocelyn Limpert wrote:
> >I've said "ANT" my whole life, as did my parents (Berkeley and Yale -- from
> >Southern California and Ohio) -- but everyone else I've encountered seems to
> >say "AHNT" -- from one coast to the other (but never south of St. Louis). I
> >always it sounded like an affectation, like someone saying "tomahto" for
> >"tomato."
>
> RP -- received pretentiousness.
>
> Joel
>
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