LL-L: "Language varieties" 29.JUN.2000 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

 ======================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 29.JUN.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 Archive: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html>
 =======================================================================
 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic
 =======================================================================

From: Lee [glent at troi.csw.net]
Subject: LL-L: "Language varieties" 27.JUN.2000 (05) [E]

> >John wrote
> >
> >"Watching the recent British Telecom "teenage split" TV commercial I
> > >noticed that the girl (otherwise speaking standard English)
>pronounced
> >"friend" and "yet" almost as "frand" and "yat". I caught >something
>similar
> >in an American TV film the other day. Is this a new >sound-shift? "
> >
> >So you noticed!  Yæs, John. Thaht's, like, ah newish sordev theng.
>I've
> >been "studying" ... well, watching it.  I think it started in >the
> >mid-to-late 1980s and is in full swing now, probably being >standard
among
> >people 30 and under, at least in the Northern States.

Actually, that is an accent that comes from Southern California and has
been a common accent for many years not just from the 1980s.  I'm from
Southern CA and in the 60s I was a young kid not even in my teens and it is

true the surfers did talk this way but not only they but others as
well.  As for valley speak.  It originated in the San Fernando Valley, not
in the 80s, but before that.  As a matter of fact that is where I came from

before I moved to Arkansas, at age 17, with my parents.

>    On a similar note, what of "Valley Girl" talk? Is that still kicking
>around? Spreading at all is it? I wouldn't know from here.
>
>-Justin Churchill

Justin "Valley Girl" talk became popular in the 80s due to films and
recordings and such.  But just like other dialects it sprung up in the
youth culture of CA much earlier than that.  How early?  I don't know for
sure but I do know my own accent before I moved to AR.  Now I can speak
with a pronounced Southern accent or switch to a so called "Surfer" accent
if I want to.

Douglas Lee Swicegood

==================================END===================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 =======================================================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
   to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 =======================================================================