_apricot, caramel_

[Laurence Horn]

On Dec 18, 2011, at 8:20 PM, Paul Johnston wrote:

> For apricot, I have [ae] in the first syllable; my parents, who were more NYC than anything else, had [ei].  Three syllables in caramel and Dorothy for all of us.
>
> Paul Johnston

Ditto on the latter, but my native NYC [a] in the latter (actually a "script a") turned into an [O] at some point and now the two vowels are in pretty free distribution (maybe depending on who I'm talking to).  On the former, I'm pretty sure I move freely back and forth between the app and the ape.

LH
>
>
> On Dec 18, 2011, at 7:52 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: _apricot, caramel_
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Although I grew up in Brrooklyn, my speech reflects TV announcers more than
>> anything.
>>
>> I am definitely (b) and three syllables for caramel and Dorothy.
>>
>> DanG
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 4:09 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      _apricot, caramel_
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> My wife and I both pronounce this word as
>>>
>>> (a) ['AprI,kat]
>>>
>>> However, in my family, this word is pronounced
>>>
>>> (b) ['EIprI,kat]
>>>
>>> Somehow, over the years, I got the impression that the "proper'
>>> pronunciation is (a). So, I've been using that one for dekkids. Now,
>>> as I watch The Wizard of Oz on the tube, I hear the cast using
>>> pronunciation (b). Having been relicensed, I shall now return to the
>>> (b) of my youth.
>>>
>>> According to my wife, the only pronunciation of which she was hitherto
>>> aware is (a).
>>>
>>> In like manner, my wife and I both use the trisyllabic pronunciation
>>> of _caramel_. However, we *both* grew up using only a single
>>> pronunciation the bisyllabic one, acquiring the "proper" pronunciation
>>> only later in life.
>>>
>>> Neither of us can recall what the motivation for this shift was. We
>>> agree that the shift is mysterious, since, as is the case with the
>>> initial vowel of _economic_, variation is standard. In fact, there was
>>> once a commercial featuring Shaq and some other black guy. Shaq used
>>> the trisyllabic pronunciation, the other guy used the bisyllabic one,
>>> and there was nothing to indicate that there was any kind of
>>> preference for either pronunciation. And there's currently a
>>> commercial on (national?) TV in which the white reader uses the
>>> bisyllabic pronunciation without hesitation.
>>>
>>> IAC, perhaps this parallel shift, in our case, is a consequence of our
>>> becoming familiar with the spelling and unconsciously deciding that
>>> trisyllabic, therefore, *must* be "proper," lacking the 'nads to go
>>> against writ*.
>>>
>>> Youneverknow.
>>>
>>> *In my youth, _writ_ was the Catholic word for _scripture_, e.g. "Holy
>>> Writ" = "Holy Scripture."
>>>
>>> --
>>> -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
>>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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