CHAT: NF accent WAS:Re: CHAT: Newfs
| From: | Clint Jackson Baker <litrex1@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, May 16, 2002, 17:31 |
|---|
Siyo!
I was watching the NCAA tournament this year (c'mon, I
live in Bloomington, Indiana--it was unavoidable this
year!), and they did their obligatory human-interest
stories. One was on a player for Hawaii who, IIRC,
was from NF. He had quite the tale, as he came from
this tiny farmtown, his family died in a car wreck
when he was a child, etc. I remember well the
accent--it seemed like a kind of skewed Irish or
Welsh, maybe. I had never heard anything like it.
Did anyone else watch the same program, or can confirm
what I heard otherwise? Other than what Stephen said
of his own origins, and knowing it's rural and an
island, I couldn't account for such a distinct accent.
Amesika meha (Thank you--yes, I'm still managing to
remember some Kayasanoda phrases despite my break from
it)
Clint
--- Stephen DeGrace <stevedegrace@...> wrote:
> --- In conlang@y..., John Cowan <jcowan@R...> wrote:
> > Stephen DeGrace scripsit:
> >
> > > It's just "boy", sound shifted to something like
> > > /baj/.
> >
> > I suspect this is not a sound change, but a lack
> of
> sound change.
> > /aI/ is the historic pronunciation of "oi, oy" in
> English until
> > the 19th century or so: even in Mark Twain we find
> spellings like
> > "jine" and "bile" for "join" and "boil", showing
> that /OI/ or the
> > like had become standard, but /aI/ remained in
> certain dialects.
> > NF was settled early and is an island, making it
> likely that the
> > 18th-century (and earlier) form was preserved
> there.
>
> Actually, that's probably so, NF is famous for
> archaicisms. My grandfather, for example, says /hus/
> for "house" and /se:/ for "sea" :). Approximately.
> Anyway, stuff varies quite a lot across the island,
> but it's all interesting to listen to.
>
> Stephen
>
>
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