Re: New Englishisms

bran betty wrote

> > '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 do the exact same thing, but i don't know anyone else who does.  I live on
Long Island, where about half the people have the stereotypical "long island"
accent and the rest have a spectrum of completely different accents.  I
usually notice that people talk like their friends, but whether this is
because they acquire the same accent or they acquire friends with the same
accent is unclear.