Date:  Fri, 2 Dec 1994 05:07:47 -0600

From:  Natalie Maynor <maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU>

Subject: Re: RE /bijl/



> Which brings to mind the disyllabic "dog" = dah-w'g heard in much of the

> South.



I'm not convinced that disyllabic "dog" is heard in much of the South.

I don't remember ever hearing it. But this discussion reminds me of

something a friend of mine was talking about on the way to lunch yesterday.

She said that Mississippi, where she's lived for the past 20+ years, is

the only place she's ever heard "afternoon" pronounced with the primary

stress on the first syllable -- that in SC, where she's from, and in all

other places, the stress is on the last syllable. Another person with us,

originally from Arkansas, agreed. She said that Mississippians consistently

say AFternoon, while all other people, including in Arkansas, say afterNOON.

I said the word out loud at that point and noticed that I (a native

Mississippian) do say AFternoon. I'd never thought about it before or

noticed that anybody else, particularly other Southerners, say it in any

other way. Is this really a Mississippi oddity? I'm aware, of course,

of the Southern stress pattern in words like UMbrella, and I'm aware that

*some* Southerners say POlice and INsurance. Most people I know do say

UMbrella but do not say POlice, INsurance, or ADDress. But I'd never

been aware of the AFternoon/afterNOON difference.

  --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)