3/17/06
Herb,
Hey. It's green day. Top o' the morning.
I am curious about Northern American English and American Network English.
Are these some sort of standardized dialects? Is the latter supposed to be
the form used by news announcers on national TV?
Next question: If this is the case, are you saying that the language used
by news announcers does not normally reduce final unstressed syllables to
schwa? That they reduce either to /i/ as in "party", or /o/ as in "photo".
As someone who grew up in Missouri, and even in my first linguistics class
at the U of Maryland, I thought final unstressed syllables reduced to /i/ or
to schwa as in "Alaska." I thought words like "photo" were marked.
This explains why people say to me "Do you say Missouree or Missourah?" I
still find the question confusing, but your explanation is good.
Thanks, Jean Waldman
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stahlke, Herbert F.W." <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
I explained about the NCVS, but I didn't answer your other questions.
Northern American English, which is the basis for American Network English,
as close as we get to a spoken standard, allows only two full vowels in
final unstressed syllables, /i/ as in "party", and /o/ as in "photo". In
some dialects, as in some parts of Missouri, these final vowels neutralize
to schwa, the vowel we have in the final unstressed syllable of "sofa",
hence the spelling "Missourah". In Boston English, on the other hand, /r/
is lost after vowels, but the vowel that is left behind, in your example
/a/, moves forward slightly to give us the characteristic broad Boson /a/.
These changes have nothing to do with NCVS, but they do illustrate that
sound change is change English in different ways in different parts of the
country and world.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of helene
hoover
Sent: Thu 3/16/2006 6:15 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
Herb: Is this NCVS responsible for otherwise standard speakers of English
saying "Missour-ah" for "Missouri"? Along the same lines, how did New
England get to "Pack the kaa, Mack" for "Park the car, Mark"? Just curious.
Helene
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