General American (was "y" and "r" (Uusisuom))

I can't speak to the subject of "General American," but as a native speaker,
I can assure you that listening to someone who grew up in say Alabama or
Mississippi (no offence intended nor implied) I with my
Pennsylvanio-Michiganian-Albertan must really struggle to keep up and
understand just as I would with the Cockney or Liverpudlian in England.

As the pronounciations vary so widely when does it cease to be a
pronounciation or accent issue and become a dialectical issue. My
sister-in-law (from Tennessee) will routinely say that she is "fixin' to
make supper," whereas I would say "I'm just about to make supper."

Could American have dialects under the dillusions of accentation? If I'm out
to lunch here, do please pass the ketchup (or is it catsup?).

Scotto

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU]On
> Behalf Of John Cowan
> Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 11:19 AM
> To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Subject: Re: "y" and "r" (Uusisuom)
>
>
> Raymond Brown scripsit:
>
> > I'm by no means an expert on Italian regional dialects, but I
> do understand
> > that northern dialects are not immediately comprehensible to southern
> > dialect speakers & vice-versa, i.e. there is a good deal of variation
> > within Italy.
>
> I think that there is no great barrier between northerners and southerners
> *when both are speaking Standard Italian*.  But of course people in both
> North and South often speak their so-called local dialects, which
> really amount
> to separate languages -- indeed, far northern Italian dialects are
> really Gallo-Romance rather than Italo-Romance at all.
>
> > I was under the impression that there was some sort of notional "general
> > American", but I may be mistaken.
>
> "General American" is the name of a specific regional variety.  It has
> a broader distribution than the other regional varieties, but it is not
> truly "general".  Furthermore, it does not have special status in
> the other regions.
>
> --
> John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
> One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
>         --Douglas Hofstadter

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