Date: Fri, 21 Apr 1995 08:14:40 -0700

From: Dan Alford dalford[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]S1.CSUHAYWARD.EDU

Subject: SE Missouri pronunciations



My Ozarks mom happens to be sitting right here as the message about "pliers,

St. Louis, ornery and ignorant" comes through, and she validates all those

forms mostly as given. But for instance, her 'pliers' is more like /pla:rz/;

Saint/Sant has a nasalized vowel; personally, I didn't know there was a

three-syllable word 'or-ner-y' until high school, but I think I learned very

quickly in my first public-school experience (junior high -- Christian school

before that) that I was no longer just 2-syllable ig-nert [no final nazalization

anywhere, I'm still surprised to hear!] but now 3-syllable ig-nor-ant!



-- Moonhawk (%- )

"The fool on the hill sees the sun going down and

the eyes in his head see the world spinning round"

-- McCartney/Lennon