Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)

From: "E. Notagain" <ecg321@...>
Subject: Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)


> Tiovaqnaki Tels Joe:
>
> [super snip]
>
> >In writing (at least,semi-formal writing), I can understand anyone who
> knows English, even if
> >they're from an area where I have a hard time understanding the spoken
> >English, such as the Bahamas, Australia, Yorkshire, Kentucky, or those on
> >the list whose spoken English might sound unintelligible to my ears.
>
> I only have problems understanding non-native English speakers (luckily my
> dentist's pronunciation is good enough that I only have to ask him to
> repeat about 5-10% of what he says). Australian and other somewhat related
> accents (like all forms of British, Irish, Scottish, everything elsish)
are
> no problem to me (actually, I understand Aussie accents better than that
> psuedo-ghetto-speak so prevalent in teenagers and on court shows -- how,
> may I ask, do you "axe" someone to do something?).
Well, I'm not a teenager, and never grew up in a ghetto, nor even a
pseudo-ghetto, but I've noticed this in my own speech occasionally.  And my
father does it too sometimes.  It's never "ask" = /&ks/, but "asked" =
/&akst/ does happen.  The /t/ has to be conditioning this one.  I've also
noticed that I sometimes add a "t" to words ending in "f", like /klIft/ for
"cliff".  It sounds normal, I only noticed it when one of these Californios
pointed it out to me.

Anyone else here use "says" as the generic verb for reporting what someone
said?  In anything informal, I'll often have "says", as in:

   Then he says, "I think I'll just throw your ocelot right off the roof!".
   So I says to him, "Then the bunny's gonna get it!".
   Then he says to me, "What on earth is Joe smoking this time?".

But in my mind, I'm thinking past tense, so when I write it down, it comes
out as "said".  I remember moving to California and realizing that no one
could understand which socket I wanted when working with somebody.

When I asked for a 3/8" socket, I'd say, "Give me the 3/8, will you?".
/wEn ai j&st fr@ tSrie sAkIt daid sei gImid@ tSrijes wIj@/

Maybe that will give you folks a clearer example of how I speak.  I'm from
New York originally (NOT the city), for those who asked.

> Wow, do I have a lot of parentheses in that.
You do indeed.

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