Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: USAGE: intrusive "r" [was Re: (Offlist) Re: ASCII IPA]

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Wednesday, August 21, 2002, 20:13
Tom Wier wrote:

>For some reason, in America I associate this phenomenon >exclusively with New England. Perhaps I've watched too >much public television -- Norm Abram, originally on _This >Old House_ and now doing his own public television show >_The New Yankee Workshop_, has a very distinct intrusive >"r". I don't think I've ever heard of Southern dialects >with intrusive "r". I'd be curious to know if anybody's >ever heard any. >
New England, definitely. _South_ Dakota??? ;) The odd thing was that in my (vintage 1940s) grade-school class of 30-some, there were maybe 2 or 3 offenders, and _idear_ was almost the only word where it occurred-- one heard it from adults too. (Cuba not being a subject of much discussion in those days). The usage tended to correlate with lower socio-economic status, hence the opprobrium from teachers and other middle-class types. Since their accents were otherwise standard midwestern, it's hard to see where "idear" came from. Perhaps a survival from parents/grandparents who may been migrants from New England. (Incidentally the final -r was not just intervocalic; it was always there, as in "Hey, that's a good idear!")

Replies

Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
bnathyuw <bnathyuw@...>