When you speak, do the words freeze and only sound when the Spring thaw comes?
"listener1/13/2014 09:48:00 PM Actually, while I do speak Marry using the A in TRAP and I speak Merry using the E in DRESS, when I say Mary I generally use the A in Mare (as in horse)."
Aha! I my natural accent there is no difference between the A in Mare and the E in Dress.
I have discovered that the complete differentiation of Mary/marry/merry is in the US pretty much coincident with the non-rhotic speech of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and nearby areas. In England, it occurs together with rhotic speech in the West Country. (Evidently the people speaking West Country dialects are in the UK widely despised as ignorant, dishonest and mentally deficient--like people in the US who speak with a Southern accent, maybe worse.) BTW, evidently the replacement of T's by glottal stops is quite a bit further along in the UK than in the US.
The mare sound in Mary, for me, would rhyme with "there" or "pear," if that helps any.
Yes, we are probably the riff raff of the British Isles, here in New England. My father's people were cattle thieves in the highlands of Scotland. His mother's maiden name was Dadmun, which disappears when researched over the Pond. It is surmised that "Dadmun" was how someone in Immigration interpreted her grandfather's Scottish utterance "I'm a dead man." (Being out of favor with the Crown was at the heart of the American Revolution!) ;-)
You may have heard that the Obama Administration has turned to a new company to fix its beleaguered healthcare website. That company is Accenture, where my daughter is a Senior Manager. She sent us this video, so we'll finally comprehend what it is she actually does. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDE_gsZtfS4
When you speak, do the words freeze and only sound when the Spring thaw comes?
ReplyDelete"listener1/13/2014 09:48:00 PM
Actually, while I do speak Marry using the A in TRAP and I speak Merry using the E in DRESS, when I say Mary I generally use the A in Mare (as in horse)."
Aha! I my natural accent there is no difference between the A in Mare and the E in Dress.
I have discovered that the complete differentiation of Mary/marry/merry is in the US pretty much coincident with the non-rhotic speech of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and nearby areas. In England, it occurs together with rhotic speech in the West Country. (Evidently the people speaking West Country dialects are in the UK widely despised as ignorant, dishonest and mentally deficient--like people in the US who speak with a Southern accent, maybe worse.) BTW, evidently the replacement of T's by glottal stops is quite a bit further along in the UK than in the US.
TTFN
Alan
" I my natural accent" = In my natural accent
Delete--Alan
P.S.: Hagrid speaks with a West Country accent.
The mare sound in Mary, for me, would rhyme with "there" or "pear," if that helps any.
DeleteYes, we are probably the riff raff of the British Isles, here in New England. My father's people were cattle thieves in the highlands of Scotland. His mother's maiden name was Dadmun, which disappears when researched over the Pond. It is surmised that "Dadmun" was how someone in Immigration interpreted her grandfather's Scottish utterance "I'm a dead man." (Being out of favor with the Crown was at the heart of the American Revolution!) ;-)
Ah, Alan, forgot to mention that, no, our words don't freeze. But we can see our breath in the air!
DeleteYou may have heard that the Obama Administration has turned to a new company to fix its beleaguered healthcare website. That company is Accenture, where my daughter is a Senior Manager. She sent us this video, so we'll finally comprehend what it is she actually does. Enjoy!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDE_gsZtfS4
Yep, I think that ad does a pretty good job of explaining things. ;-)
DeleteSmall world!
Delete--Alan
:-D
ReplyDelete