Date:    Sun, 1 Mar 1998 19:27:54 EST
<br>From:    Dfcoye  Dfcoye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM 
<br>Subject: Re: Brooklynese
<br>
<br>William Moulton used to tell us that the famous toity toid street and "kern"
<br>for coin, were classic examples of auditors from outside the dialect area
<br>hearing the sounds closest to their own phonemes which in actuality were quite
<br>different.  I thought it was pretty much accepted by linguists that the
<br>diphthongs of 'third' and 'coin' had merged in this variety of NYC Eng.  They
<br>both had a first element equal to the RP sound in 'third' and a high mid or
<br>front unrounded second element.  So to outsider coin sounded like 'kern' and
<br>'turn' sounded like 'toin'.   Free variation does the rest.
<br>
<br>Dale Coye
<br>The College of New Jersey
<br>