Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 00:50:25 EST
From: David Carlson Davidhwaet[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM
Subject: Re: [ha:di]
I was a little surprised when I read Ellen Johnson's note about the symbol AE
for the monophthong of [ai], and I was even more suprised when Danny Long used
it. But then, I'm unfamiliar with the term flattening used to describe the
process. I must be out of touch.
Nevertheless, the vowel in question here is, as has already been pointed out,
the small printed "a", a vowel completely familiar to me as a native of
Eastern New England. (Norwood MA to be specific, some 14 miles south and a
little west of Fenway Park.) I have it in half , laugh , path , as well as
in cart , barn , and the like. The vertical centered dot to the right of it
indicates a compensatory lengthening for the lack of postvocalic /r/. It
is included in all of the vowel charts I have handy from PEAS, the New
England and LAMSAS Handbooks and LAUM, and I would describe it as a lower low
front unrounded vowel. There is not much discussion of it in any of these
sources: Harold Allen says that it is found in cart and barn in eastern
New England. Incidentally, I also have the [a] vowel in father , but not in
pot and bother .
When I was at McDavid's NEH seminar in 1977 Mike Dressman told me that [au]
diphthongs were monophthongized as well as the [ai] diphthong, resulting in
[a:]. I'm still not comfortable with flattening.
In the early 1970s my brother and his wife moved from Norwood MA to Kingsport
TN.
They were suprised to heard the local cheerleaders and the crowd encouraging
the local football team to [fa:t], [fa:t], [fa:t].
I've been waiting for Don Lance to straighten us all out on this.
David R. Carlson
34 Spaulding St.
Amhert MA 01002