Didn't as [dIdInt]

[Neal Whitman]

Oops, I forgot page 2. Here's the more-inclusive list:

Words where syllabic /n/ is optional:

   * /nt/ Clinton, Boynton, Stanton, mountain, fountain, etc.
   * /rnt/ Thornton
   * /lt/ Milton, Elton
   * /rlt/ Carlton (side note: On "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Will
     Smith and his co-star between them use both the syllabic and
     non-syllabic /n/ pronunciations for this character's name)


Words where syllabic /n/ is forbidden:

   * /nd/ Linden, Landon, London, Blendon
   * /rnd/ Herndon
   * /ld/ Holden, Sheldon, Alden
   * /rld/ Marledon (not a real name AFAIK, but I needed /rld/)
   * /pt/ Lipton, Clapton
   * /kt/ Acton, Stockton
   * /gd/ Higdon
   * /gzd/ Logsdon
   * /ft/ Bluffton, Crofton, Cliffton, (courtesy of Dad) Tifton
   * /st/ Easton, Boston, Westin
   * /St/ Ashton
   * /nst/ Winston, Dunston
   * /lst/ Ralston, Ballston
   * /kst/ Braxton


  Words where syllabic /n/ is mandatory:

   * /Vt/ Peyton, button, kitten, Wooton, etc.
   * /rt/ Carton, Burton, Morton
   * /rd/ pardon(?), cordon, burden
   * /Vd/ Hayden, hidden, sodden, wooden, and these days who could forget
     Jaden?

On 6/24/2014 9:57 PM, Neal Whitman wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Didn't as [dIdInt]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I've forwarded a number of entries in this thread to Dad, who responds:
>
>      Well judging by all the responses you got, some other people have
>      made the same observation as I did.  I do say mount'n not moun-tain
>      and fount'n intead of foun-tain, and some others I can't think of
>      here and now, but I have never said didint or didunt or couldint or
>      couldunt, and I've always said Mil-ton, not Milt'n.  Here is a
>      challenge though.  There is a town named Tifton not far from Albany
>      [Georgia].  No matter how I try, I can't say Tifton in the Milt'n
>      fashion, only the Mil-ton way.
>
>
> I blogged about the related issue of /t/->[?] /__V[n] a few years back,
> before my sons' voices had changed:
> http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/doug-and-adam-say-peyton/.
> Around the same time, I was trying to see if there was a pattern in my
> own speech about when a final /tVn/ was realized with a syllabic [n],
> regardless of whether the /t/ turned into a glottal stop. Let's see if I
> can find my notes from back then...
>
>
> Words where syllabic /n/ is optional:
>
>    * /nt/ Clinton, Boynton, Stanton, mountain, fountain, etc.
>    * /rnt/ Thornton
>    * /lt/ Milton, Elton
>    * /rlt/ Carlton (side note: On "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Will
>      Smith and his co-star between them use both the syllabic and
>      non-syllabic /n/ pronunciations for this character's name)
>
>
> Words where syllabic /n/ is forbidden:
>
>    * /nd/ Linden, Landon, London, Blendon
>    * /rnd/ Herndon
>    * /ld/ Holden, Sheldon, Alden
>    * /rld/ Marledon (not a real name AFAIK, but I needed /rld/)
>    * /pt/ Lipton, Clapton
>    * /kt/ Acton, Stockton
>    * /ft/ (courtesy of Dad) Tifton
>
>
> Words where syllabic /n/ is mandatory:
>
>    * /Vt/ Peyton, button, kitten, Wooton, etc.
>    * /Vd/ Hayden, hidden, sodden, wooden, and these days who could forget
>      Jaden?
>
>
> I was trying to map out a story involving sequence gestures of glottis
> closure, velum raising or lowering, air pressure building behind tongue,
> but didn't come up with anything that explained all the data.
>
> Neal
>
> On 6/24/2014 3:54 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Didn't as [dIdInt]
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 7:29 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I've heard this only in very emphatic speech.  And not often.
>>>
>> I've heard it in ordinary speech all the time for all of my life.
>> Fortunately for me, it's no more a pet peeve than "ain't" and is less
>> interesting than the multi-negative is. OTOH, the replacement of ordinary
>> "di-d-int" et sim. by "di-?-int" et sim. "bugs my head." At one time, the
>> only black person that I've ever met who used glo?al stop is the same guy
>> who pronounces "street" as "skreek." Unless you try to call it to his
>> attention, when he then says "street" and denies *vehemently* that "skreek"
>> is his normal pronunciation.
>>
>> IAC, then, his use of glo?al stop was merely part of his charm, like his
>> use of "skreek," until the use of it by *other* people became de rigueur in
>> hip-hop and rap and then spread into colloquial speech. Now, it's a pet
>> peeve.
>>
>> Youneverknow.
>>
>
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