Date: Tue, 13 Dec 1994 10:51:10 CST
From: salikoko mufwene mufw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU
Subject: Re: Da Bears
In Message Tue, 13 Dec 1994 09:51:20 -0600,
"Timothy C. Frazer" mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uxa.ecn.bgu.edu writes:
I may be misunderstanding what you're saying here, but there are parts of
Chicago where "the" (or "dah") takes a much flatter sound than you'd get
in, say, Duh Bronx. I think the Saturday Night Live people got it right,
and "dah" would be the best spelling.
Kate Catmull kate[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]bga.com
That;s an interesting bit of news. I haven't lived in Chicago much so
didn't get to hear it. Thanks.
By "flatter" sound did you mean like with the tongue raised and tensed,
like toward barred [I]? I would describe the low central [a] as "open"
rather than flat.
I may have a distorted perception as a non-native speaker, but in the
phrase "Dah Bulls," with which I am more familiar, the article sounds
somewhere between a schwa and [a]. (I don't remember whether I have seen
"dah" always spelled with "h".)
Sali.
Salikoko S. Mufwene
University of Chicago
Dept. of Linguistics
1010 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu
312-702-8531; fax: 312-702-9861