[Ads-l] Pronunciation of "faith" and "also" in parts of Alabama

[Charles Law]

Thanks, Walter! That’s an explanation that makes sense to me. 

It shows how hypercorrection doesn’t follow derivational pattern that it’s evidently motivated by: “width” < “wide”, “breadth” < “broad”, “fai[t]th” < ???. 

Now, can you tell me what’s going on with “al[t]so”? 

Similar case: in Florence, Alabama, and in Shelby, NC, I heard this pronunciation of the 28th president’s surname: “Wil[t]son”.

(Yes, the bowtie is nice, except that it gets Alpo stains when I eat my breakfast.)



On 3/2/16, 4:48 PM, "American Dialect Society on behalf of W Brewer" <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU on behalf of brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Pronunciation of "faith" and "also" in parts of Alabama
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Well, looks like the dialectologists are hibernating, so this is my
>opportunity to consult my trusty old Arthur Bonstein handbook.
>  RE: <faith> ~ <fai[t]th>:
>(1) Probably not an "excrescent [t]", that just grew in there as a
>homorganic interdental t, for some unknown reason.
>(2) Possibly, hypercorrection. Bronstein notes that "In careless or
>indistinct speech, the /t/ or /d/ may be lost, especially when final or in
>certain clusters, as in ... <eighth, width, breadth> ..." Note how
><eight+th> is even written <eighth>, but some people may feel it sounds
>better to stick the plosive <t> back in; and, not only that, add one into
><faith> for good measure. Can't think of any better parallels offhand.
>  Cute bow tie, Charlie.
>
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