'Texes' as plural of 'text (message)'

[Paul Johnston]

Traditionally, a lot of Southwestern English dialects had "breastes", "deskes", "waspes" (if not "wapses")--SED records these, and these may be the ultimate source of forms like "bresses", "desses", "wasses" which are certainly attested in AAVE and some Southern US White dialects too.  When final, the stop can drop in SW English (particularly /st/) but I don't know of too many dialects in England that do what AAVE does. My own (Northern US) form of texts is [tEks:], distinguished from "Tex" by having a distinctly long /s/

Paul Johnston
On Feb 2, 2012, at 6:44 AM, Damien Hall wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Damien Hall <D.Hall at KENT.AC.UK>
> Subject:      'Texes' as plural of 'text (message)'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Darla asked:
>
> 'Is that like the way one hears "breastes" in place of "breasts"?'
>
> I've never heard that myself, but, if 'breastes' sounds like 'bresses', then yes, that's the same phenomenon.  Is 'bresses' for 'breasts' common - and with whom?  Any other examples?
>
> Damien
>
> --
>
> Damien Hall
>
> University of Kent (UK)
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