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
>From: "Stahlke, Herbert F.W." <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 14:53:45 -0500
>
>I wonder of the flush/flesh confusion might not be a feature of the
>Northern Cities Vowel Shift. I hadn't heard of the NCVS going all the way
>to the west coast, but it has gotten at least as far as Minneapolis and St.
>Louis. If you're not familiar with this sound change, it's a change that
>has taken place over the past century in the major cities around the
>southern shores of the Great Lakes, extending from about Syracuse west
>through Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee.
>From those centers, it has spread out to smaller cities so that it's found
>now in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis as well as in Lansing and Traverse City.
> In this change, which effects quite a number of vowel sounds, the vowel
>/ae/, as in "cat" raises to /E/ ("pet"/) and even gets as high as /i/
>("seat"), so that the name "Anne" sounds like "Ian". In the process, /E/
>gets moved back to /A/, as in "cut", so that "bed" sounds like "bud". This
>set of shifts would, then, account for "flesh" sounding like "flush", but
>then I don't know if there's any other sign of NCVS hitting Seattle, or if,
>maybe, this speaker came from the Great Lakes states.
>
>
>
>Herb
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wollin, Edith
>Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 2:14 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>
>
>I've been hearing the same problem with another phrase here in Seattle:
>"This needs to be flushed out." I'm not even sure if they are really saying
>"fleshed" and it just doesn't sound that way to me or if they know they are
>saying "flushed" and the meaning of "flesh out" has stuck to the whole
>phrase for them and they don't notice that they are saying almost the
>opposite of what they mean.
>
>
>
>This is how we entertain ourselves in meetings!
>
>Edith Wollin
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda DiDesidero
>Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 9:33 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>Thanks for responding, Herb.
>
>Yes, the students pronounce blase /blah- ze/. I have heard it is from a
>rap song that has that refrain, but I'm afraid that I'm not that familiar
>with rap music.
>
>
>
>What bothers me about the "chock it up to experience" example is that the
>student has no idea what 'chock/chalk' means--the phrase has become a
>linguistic whole for this student. She has no clue that she is writing
>about metaphorically making a chalk mark or tally. So this might be
>isolated BUT the /blah--ze/ is not. I'm actually wondering if this could
>be thought of as onomatopeia.
>
>
>
>Thanks.
>
>Linda
>
>PS I know what you mean about cot/caught and hock/hawk--we lived in Chicago
>for several years, but now we are back East where all my NE Philly
>relatives say things like "Yeeah, lez go howme"
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Stahlke, Herbert F.W. <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:26:43 -0500
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>Interesting questions. Do they pronounce "blasé" with two syllables or as
>if it has a silent e? The chock/chalk confusion may arise from a sound
>change, the a/aw merger that is found in a band about 100 miles north to
>south from about Pittsburg west to the Mississippi and then everywhere west
>of the Mississippi north of a line from about St. Louis to El Paso. These
>speakers pronounce "cot" and "caught" with the same vowels, which,
>depending on area, may be either both /a/ or both /aw/. There was until
>recently a store in here in Muncie called "The Muncie Hawk Shop". At first
>I thought it was a similar confusion of "hawk" and "hock" until I spoke to
>the owner and learned that it was intentional. Because he had an earlier
>felony conviction he could not be bonded and therefore could not get a
>pawnbroker's license, so instead he opened a buy-sell shop. By spelling
>the word "hawk", which this area pronounces the same as "hock", he was able
>both to be within the law and to given the impression of functioning as a
>"hock shop".
>
>
>
>Another widely used form of a different sort is "hone in on" for "home in
>on". The Merriam Webster Dictionary of English Usage dates this usage to
>1978, citing it in a primary campaign speech by George H. W. Bush. I have
>since found it in such places as the New York Times Magazine. I still
>reject it in student writing, which is, I fear, every bit as pedantic and
>tendentious as rejecting "most unique".
>
>
>
>Herb
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda DiDesidero
>Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 8:44 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>
>
>The discussion of the broadening of the meaning of 'unique' is interesting,
>but I see a different problem that I might call widespread malapropism.
>
>
>
>My students often create terms or use them as malapropisms--and these may
>be derived from rap music or these may have their roots in Microsoft Word's
>spell-checker. Does anyone else know anything more about this?
>
>
>
>One frequently occurring example is the word 'blase' to mean "bla-bla-bla"
>or 'yadayadayada". My students will actually say: "blase blase blase"
>thinking that it is equivalent to these other terms. So when this phrase
>enters widespread use, can we say that the meaning of 'blase' has altered?
>(even though most students who use it in this context do not know that they
>have altered a meaning; they think they have learned a new word.)
>
>
>
>The other phenomenon has to do with what we might call homonyms, such as:
>
>
>
>'chock it up to experience'
>
>"she was a pre-madonna"
>
>
>
>While these examples are clearly homonyms--and you think that the person
>had heard the phrase and has just spelled it incorrectly, perhaps with the
>aid of a spell-checker--they really do express concepts that are
>fundamentally different from the ones they mimic.
>
>
>
>Chalking it up to experience is different than chocking it up (or chucking
>it up) to experience.
>
>
>
>A prima donna is a different concept than a pre-Madonna, even though they
>both involve females.
>
>
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>
>
>Linda DiDesidero
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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