New Englishisms : -t = /?/

Don Blaheta wrote: "It's _very_ striking in some people's speech.  I've
tracked it down to primarily the area around Hartford, CT; the rule is that
/t/ goes to [?] at the end of a stressed syllable."

John Cowan replied, "Are you sure?  I have [?] for [/t/ only before
syllabic [n], which all three of your examples below exhibit.  Otherwise I
have [*] (flap-r) intervocalically."

Rhode Island 'Ha?-f@d 'Hartford.' Syllabic-final t = /?/. See also /wA?/
'what?' /bA?/ 'but.' Admittedly, these are often corrected to the standard
by educated speakers - but not always ...

If any of you have been watching that wretched show Providence, it looks
like RI except for her house, which looks like Cranston, not the old
Victorians of Providence, but the people speak Ohiolike with some
rhotacism. If you saw Sunday's episode, you saw Buddy Cianci,
twice-indicted murderer and Mayor of Providence, who has the local colour
you'll hear on the lips of 80% of Providentials.

Oh, and by the way, I used to describe Providence as the only city that
dares name itself after God, but then I learned about Allah, AZ. Darn it!

And did you all know that the real name of RI is:

The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

because the island of Newport was once Rhode Island, after Rhodes in
Greece, and the mainland was called Providence Plantations after the city?
So the smallest state has the biggest name...

*sighs proudly*

BB

*********
I'm a kinky, queer, bisexual genderfucker. And they say, "write what you
know." -Cecilia Tan, 'Writing  Sex,' OutWrite 1999

You need to have a magpie mind. I think you need to like shiny things.
-Samuel R. Delaney on what it takes to be a scifi writer, OutWrite 1999

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