Date:  Wed, 30 Nov 1994 17:12:30 CST

From:  Susan Herring <susan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UTAFLL.UTA.EDU>

Subject: 'the the' names; front vowels before l



My favorite 'the the' name is one I've heard on the San Francisco Bay

Peninsula: "the El Camino highway" (to refer to a major north-south

route named "El Camino Real"). This is of course doubly redundant

because 'camino' means 'road' in Spanish -- literally, 'the the highway

highway'.



On a different topic, a student here at UTA is researching a southern

dialect feature (also found among rural speakers in Texas) whereby front

lax vowels become tense and diphthongized before /l/, as in /bijl/ for

'bill' and /wejl/ for 'well'. Has anything ever been *published* on this?



Thanks,

Susan