Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 22:18:42 -0600

From: Dan Goodman dsgood[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VISI.COM

Subject: Re: some simple -- I hope questions



On Thu, 22 Jan 1998, Bethany K. Dumas wrote:



I'm not quite sure what the questions are.



Roughly: the other person says that the sounds of American regional

dialects are mostly influenced by the languages of non-Anglophone

immigrants. (I'll requote the relevant part of what she says below.)

My position is that this is not accurate. Is she correct, am I

correct, or are we both partially correct?



I'm not talking about words in the language or patterns of

speech. It's the physical shaping of the sound of which I'm speaking. If

those differences disappear, why is there a southern drawl and an Ozark

twang. Ths country was _not_ settled primarily by English speaking peoples.

The languages of those peoples can be heard in the formation of words by the

peoples of the regions today.



Dan Goodman

dsgood[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]visi.com

http://www.visi.com/~dsgood/index.html

Whatever you wish for me, may you have twice as much.