Date:  Sat, 22 Nov 1997 21:36:06 -0500
From:  "Bethany K. Dumas" <dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UTK.EDU>
Subject: Re: pragmatic change in progress?

> On Sat, 22 Nov 1997, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> > I'm a /hw/-/w/ distinguisher; that is, 'whale' and 'wail' are not
> > homophones for me.
> > BUT - interrogative why ('Why did you do that?') is always /hw/ in my
> > speech, and the discourse marker 'why' ('Why, it's on the the other side of
> > the room') is invariably /w/.
> > Any other standard speakers out there like me who have this distinction
> > (not /hw/ - /w/ in general; lots of us old codgers from some places have
> > that, but this specific sepaation of the two 'whys')?

I've been aware for some time that my /hw-/ ~ /w-/ usage is variable; I
think it fits the pattern that DInIs describes (and Garland Bills also
claims) --

Bethany, standard English speaker from Texas