Date:  Wed, 9 Feb 1994 11:01:11 -0500

From:  ALICE FABER <FABER%LENNY[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VENUS.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: Dialect shift??



Peter Trudgill's comments on trans-Atlantic dialect shift definitely ring

true. I have a cousin who grew up just outside of NYC who has been living in

London for the past 15 years or so. When she answers the phone, she sounds

British to me, but after she's been speaking a while, the only non-American

features I notice in her speech are lexical (e.g., QUITE instead of REALLY as

an empathetic marker of agreement). Even when she sounds the most British to

me, I can't imagine that she would sound at all British to a native Londoner.



Alice Faber

Faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Yalehask.bitnet



--Thank you very much to all who responded to my recent query about dialect

differences and the media. Even though I've seen other people, on this list

and on others, get quick responses to questions of that sort. But it was a

pleasant surprise, and extremely gratifying, to have assistance tracking down

things I should have been able to find for myself but didn't have time for.

So, thank you all. AF