Date:    Thu, 30 Apr 1998 17:10:58 -0400
<br>From:    "Beverly Flanigan (by way of Beverly Flanigan
<br>         <flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]oak.cats.ohiou.edu>)" <flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
<br>Subject: thole story, etc.
<br>
<br>This is an edited copy of a message I sent to David Sutcliffe, partly to
<br>give him my first name and partly to add a bit more to the 'thole story'
<br>and related matters.  (And it didn't apparently reach him anyway.)
<br>
<br>
<br>>Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 12:26:09 -0400
<br>>To: david.sutcliffe[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]TRAD.UPF.ES
<br>>From: Beverly Flanigan <flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]oak.cats.ohiou.edu>
<br>>Subject: Re: St Louis Blues etc.
<br>>
<br>>David,
<br>>Just a return comment on this note and your summary of the "thole"
<br>responses.  I guess my first name didn't show up on my 'tole < tow'
<br>comment, and I didn't think of the fact that since you're not in the
<br>"American circle" of ADS you wouldn't know me from Adam (or Eve)!  I've
<br>been working on Midland/South Midland dialect for a long time and have
<br>become familiar with the "grandmawl" phenomenon from my southern Ohio
<br>students.  In that word there is also a more British-like low back vowel
<br>than the rest of the country has: it's not the low central /a/ of most
<br>AmEng but the low back V of your 'pot', midway between /a/ and open O
<br>(backward C).  McDavid was aware of it, but more recent dialectologists
<br>know it less well.  I've done ADS conference papers on this and will try to
<br>publish a couple of articles on SE Ohio soon--when time permits!
<br>>
<br>>On the bolt/boat issue, I agree with you that 'boat' is more plausible in
<br>your context.  However, IF the word were 'bolt,' it might well be
<br>pronounced with vocalized /l/: 'bo't'.  Jesse Jackson spoke here last
<br>night, and his 'help > he'p' pronunciation was very salient.  (He speaks
<br>Standard So/SoMid < Upland South Carolina, not Black English, except in
<br>obvious switches.)
<br>>
<br>>On Labov's division: Yes, the Midland is alive and well in the U.S.!
<br>Again, this is a major point I (and others) are trying to establish, contra
<br>Carver, Houck, et al.  It may be that the old North Midland is melding in
<br>with Northern, and the South Midland is becoming simply Midland--but it is
<br>clearly distinctive from North and South.  Cincinnati, St. Louis (where I
<br>lived for ten years), Atlanta, etc. are indeed islands in this area, mainly
<br>because of their rapidly changing demographics.
<br>                                                              Beverly Olson
<br>Flanigan
<br>                                                              Ohio
<br>University, Athens
<br>                                                              (out of
<br>Minnesota--very Northern)
<br>>
<br>>At 03:12 PM 4/25/98 +0200, you wrote:
<br>>> On 25/4/98 Allan Metcalf wrote:
<br>>>>
<br>>>> Thinking of Walt Wolfram giving the Tamony lecture in Columbia,
<br>>>> Missouri, today; and feeling sorry that I couldn't make it to that
<br>>>annual celebration of
<br>>>American English, got me thinking about Missouri and its language.
<br>>>St Louis has the peculiarity of being a Northern speech island in a
<br>>>sea of Midland. But has this always been so? Was it the case when Lewis
<br>>>and Clark set off on their expedition? Has anybody studied St Louis
<br>>>speech of the 19th century?
<br>>>>
<br>>>Allan Metcalf>
<br>>>
<br>>>This reminded me of the research William Labov, Sherry Ash & associates
<br>>>are doing on vowel shift chains. They are convinced that a great
<br>>>Northern vowel shift is under way in the northern cities of Chicago,
<br>>>Detroit, etc. and are also convinced there's a great Southern vowel
<br>>>vowel shift in progress throughout the South. This leaves the cities in
<br>>>the middle, Cincinatti and westwards, and here they find that each major
<br>>>city is going its own sweet way (Labov, pers. communication 1995). I'm
<br>>>not sure what they say about St Louis, but it would be enlightening to
<br>>>talk to them about this. At all events the situation they describe seems
<br>>>to bear out the three-way division: Northern, Midland, Southern, which
<br>>>was recently questioned.
<br>>>
<br>>>David Sutcliffe
<br>>>
<br>>>>
<br>