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