Date:    Wed, 11 Mar 1998 09:08:29 -0500
<br>From:    frank abate  abatef[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM 
<br>Subject: Re: GREASY/GREAZY
<br>
<br>Carol Andrus said:
<br>
<br>  This may be of interest. I'm not a prof, but am interested in language.=
<br>
<br>Back
<br>in the 60's I taught Spanish/French/Latin, and, remember how we had films=
<br>
<br>to
<br>show to the class every now and then. I got a really interesting film abo=
<br>ut
<br>American language, I think it was from the FBI. It said: that a person wh=
<br>o
<br>had
<br>been raised for the first 10-12 years in one place in the US could be
<br>identified within 150 miles of that place of origin by his/her speech.
<br>There
<br>was a list of words to read. It gave examples of: greasy/greazy;
<br>marry/Mary/merry; adult/adult; those are a few I remember. I put this in
<br>because of greasy/greazy, which triggered my memory.  
<br>
<br>***************
<br>
<br>I'd be interested to know if the FBI (if it was them) still uses dailect
<br>geography as evidence, and whether this stemmed from Labov's work.
<br>
<br>Anyone know?  Is there a list of "shibboleth" words that still works in
<br>determining place of origin?
<br>
<br>Frank Abate
<br>OUP US Dictionaries
<br>