Re: CHAT: Southernisms (was Re: Genitive relationships)
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Thursday, March 11, 1999, 3:43 |
Tom Wier wrote:
>...> Do you know the settlement patterns for Florida? Was it mostly
> by people from like South Carolina and Georgia? As for Texas, the
> situation is kinda confused, for a couple reasons:
Well, Florida is really two states, from a cultural perspective - the
Panhandle, and the Penninsula. The Panhandle was the first to be really
settled. I don't know the pattern, tho, but rural areas are pretty
"Southern", so I'd say it probably was Georgians and Alabamians,
mostly. The Spanish seem not to have left a very big influence in the
Panhandle. The Penninsula was opened up by railroads, and I think that
it was settled by people all over the country. In addition, Florida,
especially the southern part, is a popular retirement destination, so
the southern part has a lot of elderly Yanks. The far south has had a
*lot* of Hispanic immigration, so much so that it's said that Miami is
more Hispanic than Caucasian. I've never been there, so I don't know
how true that is, but Spanish is a big linguistic influence in the
South.
>...> I have. I remember quite distinctly hearing some guy on the
> elevator once saying something, and then "Oh, [mE:~]!" Note
> of course that the [E] is still present. It kinda makes me wonder
> if the Cajuns of East Texas had anything to do with that...
Now that I think about it, I think I do *sometimes* hear a loss of the
nasal.
>...> (that's another thing, of course: use
> of _y'all_ indexes the speaker's desired familiarity with the listeners).
Hmm, I've never noticed that before, but now that you mention it, I
think that you're correct there. It also, of course, indexes the
casualness, which is probably the reason for the familiarity issue.