origin of dese dem dose in NYCE

Ronald Butters ronbutters at AOL.COM
Mon Feb 13 15:50:13 UTC 2012


From 1890-1960, at least in the eastern counties, the majority of immigrants were from "Canada, Finland, Sweden, and Ireland" ("Prehistoric, historic, and present settlement patterns related to ecological hierarchy in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan USA"; Landscape Ecology 12 [1997]: 223–240; p237). Why single out the Finns? 

On Feb 12, 2012, at 8:55 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> On Feb 12, 2012, at 6:27 PM, Paul Johnston wrote:
> 
>> Don't forget  that TH-stopping isn't unique to NYC.  It's found in nearly every large, industrial Northern city I can think of--and they all attracted a multitude of ethnic groups without theta or eth, so which group started it isn't easy to determine.
> 
> And in some very non-large non-cities, such as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where it's a shibboleth (along with others) of "Youpertalk".  Finnish substrate effects seem plausible in that case.

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list