Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:42:10 -0500

From: "Salikoko S. Mufwene" s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UCHICAGO.EDU

Subject: Re: Southern accent -



Southern accents are probably not in danger of extinction, but my

observations of freshmen arriving from the South here at Princeton show that

many have no trace of the salient southern phonetic features like

monophthongs in the vowel of my, etc. They could easily pass as

northerners. The same is true for speakers from eastern New England and New

York City. So there is movement away from the local standard to what is

perceived as a national standard. Maybe not much, but some.



Humans/Animals are ADAPTIVE to new environments, unless they insist on

standing out or are simply incapable of some adjustments. What you invoke

is NO evidence for speculating that Southern English is changing.



Sali.



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Salikoko S. Mufwene s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu

University of Chicago 312-702-8531; FAX 312-702-9861

Department of Linguistics

1010 East 59th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

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