Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 16:26:25 -0600 From: Samuel Jones Subject: Re: Do REAL Texicans Say wh=[hw] & news=[njuz]? >ADS member and cinema dialect coach Allyn Partin asks for information on the >following in current Texas adult speech. ("Adult" meaning "grown up," not >something else.) She wants to help certain actors sound Texan. ______________________________________________________________________ I am originally from Oklahoma, but I lived and taught in the eastern part of Texas for about 5 years, although I also spent a considerable amout of time in and around Brownwood, Texas--"West"-Central Texas, after my parents moved there. >1. Is there a distinction between wh- and w- ? During the years I lived in eastern-southern Oklahoma, there was a CLEAR distinction made. In those years I taught in East Texas, some 45 years ago!, the same CLEAR distinction between [hw] & [w] was also made. Along Texas' southern coastal plain, I sensed that this difference was NOT always observed, although this is nothing more than my impression. I suspect that usage varies widely within the state, depending to some extent on the language traditions and characteristics of both original settlers and of those who subsequently settled throughout the different areas of the state, even creating linguistics pockets. The "Piney Woods" of East Texas are far different from the "twang" of Abilene or from the somewhat softer, easier vowels of a place like Temple, Texas. >2. Is there a [j] after the initial [n] in *news* etc? I found the transitory "i" = IPA [j] to be broadly distributed throughout the North, the Central and the Eastern parts of Texas, as in [njuz] or [njuz-pe-pr]. It is also found in suit=[sjut] & [sjut-kes]. There is in many Southern areas a perhaps slightly less clear but still easily-distinguishable [j] in a word like shoes=[shjuz]. smjones __________________________________________________________________________ >She is not e-connected, so I will note your answers and pass them on. Or, if >you care to phone her directly (some of you know her), it's 818/361-0898. > >- Allan Metcalf, ADS executive secretary ____________________________________________________________________________ DR. SAMUEL M. JONES INTERNET: smjones1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]facstaff.wisc.edu Prof. of Music & Latin American Studies TELNET: samjones[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]macc.wisc.edu 5434 Humanities Building FAX: 608 + 262-8876 (UW) 455 North Park Street __________________________________________ University of Wisconsin-Madison TELEPHONES: 608 + 263-1900 (UW-Lv. message) Madison, WI 53706-1483 * 608 + 263-1924 * (UW-Office - * VOICE MAIL--Lv message) ____________________________________________________________________________ "Pen-y-Bryn" TELEPHONES: 608 + 233-2150 (Home) 122 Shepard Terrace 608 + 233-4748 (Home) Madison, WI 53705-3614 ____________________________________________________________________________