Re: OT: English and front rounded vowels
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, December 10, 2007, 16:21 |
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On Dec 10, 2007 9:07 AM, caeruleancentaur
>
> There is also an expression used by New Englanders, mainly by Vermonters I
> believe. I have no idea how it is spelled but it sounds something like
> /e'@/.
Usually grouped with "Ayup."
"Yay" is definitely a respelling of "yea"; the latter spelling was used in
the modern sense of the former for quite some time. "Yea" is also sometimes
used in formal meeting settings instead of the more usual Aye.
"Yeah" is indeed /j&:/ for most of us over here, but some do pronounce it
/jE/ (sometimes with a corresponding respelling to "yeh"). Typically this
is a shortened version, spoken quickly. Final /E/ is quite rare (though not
unheard of) among us rhotic types, which is no doubt the reason that the
vowel in "yeah" changed for us.
--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
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