The Canadians are taking over the Merrimack Valley?

[Paul Johnston]

And this Easterner has these too.  I wonder if there's any evidence for an earlier "Nashaway" pronunciation--or even if it's the same ending involved (or the group in S NH had a different final vowel than the Leni Lenape did.

Paul
On Jul 16, 2014, at 2:44 PM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:

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> 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 7/16/2014 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:
>> 
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>>> 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
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>>>>> 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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