[Ads-l] The pronunciation of "dwarf"

[Paul A Johnston]

As a very young kiddie (5 years old or so), I used the pronunciation "The Tins" for a pair of local twins we knew in Monroe, NY,.
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2019 11:19 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: The pronunciation of "dwarf"

---------------------- 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: The pronunciation of "dwarf"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On Apr 4, 2019, at 11:05 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>=20
> As a child,, I used the pronunciation, [Snow White and the Seven] =
"Drawfs."
> But I switched to "dWarf" as soon as I learned to read and to =
articulate
> /dw/. Read somewhere or other, back in the '40's, that Eisenhower got =
his
> nickname from his inability to say "Dwight," when he was learning to =
talk.

As long as he could distinguish =E2=80=9Ctot=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9Ctwat=E2=
=80=9D...
>=20
> On Thu, Apr 4, 2019 at 4:48 PM Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>=20
>> In a recent conversation with a friend, within an interval of about =
20
>> seconds he pronounced the word =E2=80=9Cdwarf=E2=80=9D four times =
without the /w/. I asked
>> him about the pronunciation, and he insisted that that=E2=80=99s the =
only way he=E2=80=99s
>> ever heard it pronounced (obviously untrue, since he had just heard =
me ask,
>> =E2=80=9CDo you always pronounce =E2=80=9CdWarf=E2=80=9D without the =
/w/?=E2=80=9D).  He is a retired
>> linguistics professor in his late 60=E2=80=99s, white, who lived in =
Maryland and
>> Delaware from birth through his early adulthood.
>>            None of the dozen dictionaries I consulted record a w-less
>> pronunciation of =E2=80=9Cdwarf.=E2=80=9D Of the several specialized =
pronunciation
>> dictionaries that I looked at, only one does--the Oxford Dictionary =
of
>> Pronunciation for Current English (2001), which shows the =E2=80=9Cw=E2=
=80=9D inside
>> parenthesis marks, which means (according to the introduction) that =
the =E2=80=9Cw=E2=80=9D
>> belongs to an =E2=80=9Coptional pronunciation=E2=80=9D in American =
English.
>>            Is the pronunciation without the /w/ at all common?  Is it
>> regional?
>>=20
>>=20
>> --Charlie
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>=20
>=20
>=20
> --=20
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint =
to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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

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