[Ads-l] Dorchester

[Paul A Johnston, Jr]

The English town in Dorset doesn't drop the syllable either.  Cirencester in Gloucestershire used to throw me, because I was expecting [sIs at st@] or even [sIst@], which are both older pronunciations, but was assured it was [saIr at nsEst@], just what it looks like, nowadays.  And does Shrewsbury, MA have [u:] or [oU]?  I'd guess [u:] alone.


----- Original Message -----
> From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 1:00:33 PM
> Subject: Re: Dorchester
> 
> ---------------------- 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: Dorchester
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> > On Apr 20, 2016, at 11:08 AM, James A. Landau =
> <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:
> >=20
> > My daughter, who lives in Canton, Massachusetts, asks:  If
> > Gloucester =
> is pronounced /glahster/ (I taste not the Pierian spring of IPA) and
> =
> Worcester is pronounced /wooster/, why isn't Dorchester pronounced =
> /dorchster/ or /dorster/?
> My theory:
> 
> Try saying the former ("Dorchster" with the /tSst/ cluster).  I
> assume =
> the derivation of /glaster/ (or more likely /glOst@/) is from =
> /glOs at st@/> /glOsst@/ (with schwa-deletion) >/glOst@/ (with =
> degemination), ditto with "Worcester".  But if you deleted the schwa
> in =
> "Dorchester" you'd end up with that unsightly, or unsoundly,
> consonant =
> cluster (or "clucester" as they used to be called).=20
> 
> LH=20
> >=20
> >=20
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