Didn't as [dIdInt]
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Tue Jun 24 18:29:53 UTC 2014
At 6/24/2014 11:00 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > the Abbey is "Down-ton".
>
>Not to me. None of your minimal pairs strike resounding chord in this house.
I'm nearly identical with Larry, I think. With some wavering.
Tauton? Tautin? (for the town).
Jon, how about Berle? And spoken by someone more cultured than Mortimer.
Joel
>JL
>
>
>On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: Didn't as [dIdInt]
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Jun 24, 2014, at 9:29 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >
> > > At 6/24/2014 08:24 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >> I've always done that syllabic thing with "Milton" because as a New =
> > Yorker
> > >> I do the same nasalized thing with "mountain" and "countin'."
> > >=20
> > > If I had had a childhood acquaintance in NYC, I might have called him =
> > "Mil-tn". But to me the poet and revered republican is "Mill-ton".
> > >=20
> > Nice minimal pair! I'm not sure I consistently do that for the poet, =
> > though. I definitely contrast "Milton" (uncle) with "Will-ton" (Wilton, =
> > CT), and "tauntin'" with "Taun-ton" (Mass.), and have the strong sense =
> > that I'd reduce Wilton and Taunton if I lived in or near those towns, =
> > but the poet could go either way. I agree with JL on "mountain" and =
> > "countin'", but the Abbey is "Down-ton".
> >
> > LH
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list