Re: DIALEKTOS vs GLWSSA
Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Mon, 4 Nov 96 09:44:43 CST
At 9:44 AM -0600 11/4/96, Mark OBrien wrote:
>Original message sent on Fri, Nov 1 8:14 PM by cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu (Carl
>W. Conrad) :
>[...]
>> we have much greaer difficulty in following (I should say rather that I
>> myself do) Australian English;
>
>G'Day Carl...
>
>Fair dinkum, mate? I had no idea we Aussies were so hard on the ear... you
>should try New Zealanders for true vocalic perversion of English! (Just
>kidding!!!)
>
>Actually, living here in Texas has been an experience for a poor West Australian
>boy trying to cope with some pretty interesting dialects! I have had one fellow
>ask me if I was from West Texas (I wasn't sure whether this was a positive or a
>negative?!), but most people opt for Boston because of the way we pronounce
>words like "car".
>
>Couldn't help myself...
Mark, I had no idea! But that's precisely the point, I think. When all we see is each other's WRITTEN English, there is no jarring or poorly-discerned sound that fails to connect immediately to the right word. I am sure there are several different Australian speech patterns, some of which I can readily understand, others being much more difficult. But yes, you must have had an equivalent experience in reverse.
We learn new things about each other all the time!
Regards, c