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 > > > > > > > >To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface >at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave >the list" > >Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV >list, please visit the list's web interface at: >http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the >list" > >Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > >To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface >at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave >the list" > >Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > >To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface >at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave >the list" > >Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ > >To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface >at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html >and select "Join or leave the list" > >Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/