Date:    Wed, 13 May 1998 17:09:14 -0500
<br>From:    "Donald M. Lance" <engdl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: CaRIBbean (was Beijing /j/)
<br>
<br>Ron Butters asks,
<br>>
<br>>Along the same lines, are there any Caribbean dialects in which <Caribbean> is
<br>>pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, or is CaRIBbean entirely a
<br>>US/Canada/European affectation? (What I generally hear from the natives is
<br>>CarriBEan--also the first pronunciation given in the first dictionary I looked
<br>>at this afternoon.)
<br>
<br>Fred Cassidy, who was born there, says CaribBEan.  I recall him commenting
<br>on it once.  I think he said residents of the islands use his pronunciation
<br>but that the other one is making inroads.  SPE rules, I suppose, would say
<br>that the underlying /i/ in the penultimate syllable makes that one a strong
<br>syllable, thus stressed.  Those who use the other pronunciation apparently
<br>have an underlying lax vowel penultimately, which then would shift the
<br>stress to the antepenultimate.  Or -ribb- may be a strong syllable, thereby
<br>attracting the stress, especially if the penult -e- is lax.
<br>
<br>DMLance
<br>