Query: dialectal pronunciation of the type "EYE-talian" for "Italian"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Sun Sep 22 23:50:18 UTC 2013


In the spoken intro to his 1973 record, Don't You Worry About a Thing,
Stevie Wonder uses - indeed, *says* - "I-Ran an' I-Rack."

He also uses "chevareh" ['tSEv at rE], which I thought was just a noise that
he had made up. It turns out that it's real Spanglish slang, based on
"Chevrolet."


On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 6:03 PM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Query: dialectal pronunciation of the type "EYE-talian"
> for
>               "Italian"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thomas Edison in one of his earliest recordings spoke of Eye-talians in a
> WWI motivational speech.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
> See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
> > Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 14:04:51 +0000
> > From: gcohen at MST.EDU
> > Subject: Query: dialectal pronunciation of the type "EYE-talian" for
> "Italian"
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> > Subject: Query: dialectal pronunciation of the type "EYE-talian" for
> > "Italian"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Would anyone know of any articles treating dialectal pronunciation of
> the type "EYE-talian" for "Italian"?
> > I'm particularly interested in knowing how widespread this feature is
> and what other examples of it exist.
> > Any help/guidance would be much appreciated.
> >
> > Gerald Cohen
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-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

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