Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 10:49:17 -0400

From: "M. Lynne Murphy" 104LYN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MUSE.ARTS.WITS.AC.ZA

Subject: Re: Greasy et al.



dale coye says:



Lynn notes that Syracuse is pronounced with the vowel of air locally, but

I grew up just outside the city and think that's a minority pronunciation,

perhaps used mostly by older speakers. It alwas has /s/ up there.



ahem, maybe it's what's used by younger speakers! i'm but a child

(ok, 30 but childish), but this is how people i know identify non-

locals. if they say "sirakyuz" instead of "sarakyus" you're allowed

to make fun of them. another possibility, though is that the people

in syracuse have changed, but the rural counties around it haven't

caught up with the city-slickers. i haven't made clear all the

possibilities here for that first vowel. i use the vowel in "air"

but i have also heard the [i] as in "seersucker" and the [I] in "sir"-

-which may actually be a schwa in syracuse. the last is the least

common to my mind, but the second is the one that grates on me.



lynne

(who would like to note that dale isn't the only ads-er who can't

spell my name--for shame, you language-oriented people!)