[Ads-l] The pronunciation of "dwarf"

[Peter Reitan]

Related to the naming of Tim Conway's character, "Dorf?"

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2019 1:48:30 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: The pronunciation of "dwarf"

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
Subject:      The pronunciation of "dwarf"
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In a recent conversation with a friend, within an interval of about 20 seco=
nds he pronounced the word =93dwarf=94 four times without the /w/. I asked =
him about the pronunciation, and he insisted that that=92s the only way he=
=92s ever heard it pronounced (obviously untrue, since he had just heard me=
 ask, =93Do you always pronounce =93dWarf=94 without the /w/?=94).  He is a=
 retired linguistics professor in his late 60=92s, white, who lived in Mary=
land and Delaware from birth through his early adulthood.
            None of the dozen dictionaries I consulted record a w-less pron=
unciation of =93dwarf.=94 Of the several specialized pronunciation dictiona=
ries that I looked at, only one does--the Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciatio=
n for Current English (2001), which shows the =93w=94 inside parenthesis ma=
rks, which means (according to the introduction) that the =93w=94 belongs t=
o an =93optional pronunciation=94 in American English.
            Is the pronunciation without the /w/ at all common?  Is it regi=
onal?


--Charlie

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