LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.01.13 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 13.JAN.2004 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Szelog, Mike <Mike.Szelog at citizensbank.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2004.01.13 (01) [E]

Uilleam wrote:

"I've come across a peculiar 'accent' recently. It is unremarkable in all
ways except for a few
minor 'grammatical errors' (which may in fact be accentual or dialectal),
and most remarkably, a
distinct way of pronouncing the vowel u.
I think that in most dialects of English it's common to insert a 'y' sound
before a u in some
positions: calculator pronounced calcyulator, formula pronounced formyula,
cube pronounced cyube, computer being pronounced compyuter, etc. But this
'accent' ignores this completely: it's formala, calcuhlator, etc. I'm
wondering if this is an accent, a dialect, or simply an idiosyncrasy. Can
anyone help?"

I've heard this as well and the only thing I can tell you is that it seems
to be a "variety", if you will, of the New England accent. It's often heard
imitated by people who want to sound like they're from the
"sticks"/"backwoods" area of New England. I'd have to say it's predominantly
in northern NE (Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) - not heard so much in
MA/RI/CT.

So, your "calculator" usually comes out as "CAHL-kah-late-ah" (with the
typical NE 'r' deletion), and so forth. It does sound very "backwoodsy" to
my ears, but plenty of people do talk like that up here in NH! I have to
say, though, I've never heard "cube" pronounced by these same people without
the palatalized 'k' - it's always as if spelt "kyube".

Mike S
Manchester, NH - USA

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