anythink

[Jim Rader]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
"The Basic Material" volumes of the Survey of English Dialects record
the forms for <nothing> (VII.8.14) and <something> (VII.8.15) in
cases where these lexemes are used rather than outcomes of
<somewhat>, <naught>, etc.  Forms with final [k] are scattered
throughout the Midlands, having at least one attestation in
Staffordshire (general), Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire,
Warwickshire, Leicestershire (common), Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire,
Rutlandshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire,
Huntingdonshire, Middlesex and London, and Lincolnshire.  Norfolk has
some forms with a final devoiced [g], though the forms with stops are
otherwise absent from East Anglia and Essex.  In the south there is
at least attestation in Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Somersetshire, and
Wiltshire, and Hampshire (common).  The forms are notably absent from
Devonshire, Cornwall, and Dorsetshire.  It's impossible to draw any
conclusions on the north based on the Survey material, because
outcomes of <naught> and <somewhat> are almost completely dominant in
Lancashire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and the counties further
north, though <nothing> with final [k] occurs once in southern
Yorkshire (Ecclesfield). (This jibes with Wells' assertion that it is
found in Sheffield.)  I haven't tried to search for other words
that would have had historical final eng in an unstressed syllable.
Note that forms with final eng + [g], i.e., with voiced [g], are not
attested at all  in <nothing> and <something> as far as I could tell from a
 quick pass.
 
On the history of this form see E.J. Dobson, _English Pronunciation,
1500-1700_, p. 942.  According to Dobson, the devoicing of [g] in
this cluster "occurs sporadically in late Old English; it is regular
in the North-west Midlands in Middle English and is a widespread
vulgarism in Modern English." There may be data in _A Linguistic
Atlas of Late Mediaeval English_, but I haven't tried to search it.
 
In any event, I don't think there is any problem accounting for the
final [k] in New Zealand.  A better question might be whether it
occurs elsewhere in Southern Hemisphere English or in American
English--not in the latter, as far as I know.
 
Jim Rader