The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/16/2014 12:04 PM, Paul Johnston wrote:
>The original British town in Essex is Billericay, pronounced 
>"Bill-a-Rickey", as in Ian Dury's song "Billericay Dickie".  Knowing 
>what I do about early American pronunciation, I wouldn't be 
>surprised if that was the 1700s pronunciation too.  I don't know 
>about Nashua, either, but there's an Algonquian moroherme of some 
>kind that is common in town names that comes out as /@we/, cf. 
>Piscataway, Rockaway, Rahway, and originally (en franca is) 
>"Chicagouais".  But Idoubt if anyone uses those pronunciations now, 
>especially Canadians.

Some -- many? -- use these pronunciations now (unless I'm 
misinterpreting "we").  This New Yorker has Rock-away and Rah-way.

Joel

>On Jul 16, 2014, at 9:55 AM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header 
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?
> > 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 7/15/2014 11:51 PM, caitlin o wrote:
> >> Full-blown Canadian here.  "eigh" and "eh" are pronounced
> >> identically in my rural, western dialect.
> >
> > But -- both like WAY (weigh) or both like MEH?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Joel
> >
> > P.S.  In case anyone was wondering, I believe "Billerica" is (most
> > often)  "bill-RICK-uh" and "Nashua" is "NASH-ooh-uh".
> >
> >
> >>> Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:14:26 -0400
> >>> From: Berson at ATT.NET
> >>> Subject: The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?
> >>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>>
> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >>> Subject:      The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?
> >>>
> >> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> My viewing of the TV news this evening was interrupted by a weather
> >>> alert for flash floods.  Supplementing the scrolling warning,
> >>> describing the dangers in various locations in northeastern
> >>> Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, was a voice-over that named
> >>> particular towns.  Two were "Bill-rick-a" and "Nash-ooh-a",
> >>> pronounced like A as in NEIGHBOR and WEIGH.
> >>>
> >>> (No especial emphasis on any of the three syllables.)
> >>>
> >>> Although I suppose genuine Canucks don't say "eigh" but rather "eh".
> >>>
> >>> Joel
> >>>
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> >>
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