Date:  Sat, 5 Mar 1994 15:09:27 -0500

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

Subject: COOL /u/ or /y/



Perhaps related to the loss of a vocalic distinction between DUE and DO, we

have the increased fronting of /u/ characteristic of Labov's Southern Shift,

and perhaps in other regions also. (For those who are unfamiliar with it, this

fronting can be extreme enough, with enough unrounding, that /u/ is perceived

as /i/.) Stereotypically fronted words are DUDE and COOL, in

"California-speak". I just heard a radio commercial for Drakes* Wingdings. A

son was commenting on how cool (/kyl/) Wingdings are. The father, attempting

to relate to his son, agrees that Wingdings are cool (/kul/). The son corrects

the father, asserting that weather is /kul/ but Drakes is /kyl/. (Drakes was

/driks/, a la Northern Cities Shift, leading me at first to perceive it as

DRINKS.) My question is this: is this split just advertising-ese? Or is there

a real trend out there (somewhere) for both a lexical split of COOL into its

literal and metaphorical meanings and a phonological split of fronted and

un-fronted /u/ into /u/ and /y/?



Alice Faber

Faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Yalehask



*In case Drakes is a local NY area brand, it's a brand of snack foods like

Little Debbie and Hostess. I really DON'T want to start a thread on brand

names...