[Ads-l] Worcester [Was: Dorchester]

[Joel Berson]

I hope that wasn't the last Amy will say, since I've changed the subject.

On "Worcester", I pronounce like Amy, "wuh-ster".  I'm assuming her "uh" is not schwa (or the "oo" of "woo") but like "woman" (see OED American pronunciation, where it uses "uh").  Unfortunately, I pronounce the delaying utterance "uh" as schwa, and have to fight that off whenever I see it used here.


Joel

      From: Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 11:40 AM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Dorchester
   
The last I'll say on this is:

The non-rhotic, native pron that I hear on the robocalls from the school 
system and by some community radio station (WCUW) hosts/spots is 
"wuh-stuh" (I don't listen to the local talk radio station, WCRN, but 
that would be a place to collect from).

The rhotic approximation that I, and other transplants use, is: 
"wuh-ster" (I can fake the vowel, but my rhoticity shows itself in the end.)

I did hear a WUMB dj use "woo-ster". That approximation is really marked 
out here. (It's perceived as a clueless foreign pron by a foreigner.)

That is in fact much worse than the fully rhotic ("I'm not even going to 
try") "wor-ster".

If you're going to go for the "woo" vowel (and there's some of that 
vowel quality floating around in the area prons because the we have that 
element in nicknames and such, "The Woo", "The WooCard",  "Woo State", 
etc.) make the final syllable non-rhotic: "woo-stah" (as in Woosta 
Pizza). The "woo-ster" pron. just clunks.

---Amy West


On 4/23/16 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Fri, 22 Apr 2016 13:35:46 +0000
> From:    Joel Berson<berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Re: Dorchester
>
> Well, I don't wander the streets much, and do receive my pronunciation mostly from homogenized or foreign journalists.  (I've heard some beauts of mispronunciation from some whom I assume to be recent arrivals.)
>
> And as I said, I may be unable to hear the absence of r's.  Or be in denial of a-rhoticity.  (There must be some reason why "rhoticity" contains "city".)
> Joel
>        From: Amy West<medievalist at W-STS.COM>
>  To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU  
>  Sent: Friday, April 22, 2016 9:18 AM
>  Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Dorchester
>    
> On 4/22/16 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>> >Date:    Fri, 22 Apr 2016 01:53:30 +0000
>> >From:    Joel Berson<berson at ATT.NET>
>> >Subject: Re: Dorchester
>> >
>> >
>> >P.S.  Amy, of Worcester, hears "Well, it's not/wooster/, it's WUH-stuh. And I think I hear DUH-chester
>> >among the non-rhotic."  But that's in the sticks?  I, not from Massachusetts, rhotic, and hearing the cultured (not cultchah'd) broadcast announcers of the metropolis, hear wooster and door-chester.  But perhaps, having grown up in New York City, I can't hear non-r's.
>> >
>> >
>> >Joel
> Ya know, as with my second-hand reporting of the MD Worcester pron, the
> problem may be that we may be getting the names on TV and radio filtered
> through semi-standardized/reduced native pron/accent training/trained
> journalists, or, again from feren journalists who ain't from around here
> and are approximating the native prons.
>
> However, you're more likely to be hearing the pron in situ than I am.
>
> I dunno. I'm not a phonologist. <shrug> <arm flailing>
>
> ---Amy West



------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org