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