Date:  Fri, 17 Dec 1993 19:52:49 CST

From:  "Donald M. Lance" <ENGDL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIZZOU1.BITNET>

Subject: Re: productive competence



The strongest ae-raising was in the speech of "West Countians" from

University City (which has experienced much white flight) and Ladue (which

hasn't). As much as I don't like to think that TV drives language change,

I suspect it may have in this case. ae-raising is a handy tool for

stereotyiping the kind of people that ae-raisers don't want to be like, so

maybe younger St Louisans consciously or subconsciously avoided the

ae-raising they heard in the speech of the (stereotyped) adults in the

neighborhood. Recently Rudy Troike mentioned that ae-retracting was strong

in Tucson. I hear some in Missouri students, but not much. It's fer shir

on MTV.          DMLance