Re: New Englishisms

Brian Betty wrote:
> 1. clip everything. I say ev'ry, ev'rything, p'sition (not position, but
> pzishin).
/p@z/ or actually /pz/?  In my dialect, it's /p@zIS@n/.  I say ev'ry and
ev'rything as well.

> Prescription /pr@skripshn/. Elimination /ilimineyshn/. Christmas
> /krismis/. Et cetera.
Do you mean /I/?  I say those with /I/, not /i/, but other than that,
those are my pronunciations as well (Florida)

> 2. Intervocalic -d-, -t- become flaps. Sweater sounds like /swerR/; even
> 'sudden' is almost /sar-n/. My favorite, though, is when I actually make a
> dental stop into a rolled r: this happens most often with: "What are you
> doing?" > /'(h)warryu 'du:ing?/. Really. I get quite a roll into it without
> even noticing it.
I think most American dialects to flaps there.  That's why you sometimes
hear hypercorrections like /lejt_hi/.  I've heard that rolling before,
but only in a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song, in the line "give it away"

> 5. I claim to recognise the audible difference between Mary, marry, and
> merry, which to my Oregonian roommate is all /meri:/ (here r = American r)
> and to me is /maeri:/, /mae:ri:/ and /meri:/, respectively.
I say /mIri/

> 7. Also, ts are frequently replaced by glottal stops, especially in
> syllable-final position: hi' for hit. si' for sit.
Really?  I didn't know that was used outside of England.  Interesting.

> The oddest thing is that people in New England also say y'all. That might
> be because of the influence of the universities ... But y'allses is
> definitely out.
I'd heard about that.  Southerners are taking over!  Ha-ha-ha-ha!