From: tgpedersen@...
Message: 7679
Date: 2001-06-18
>English
> That's another question that came into my mind: Does American
> retroflex r come from Dutch? I had a scenario that went like this:Santa
> the English conquer Nieuw Amsterdam; diglossia with a low-status
> Dutch-influenced English with retroflex r, high-status English
> without; American revolution, low- and high-status are reversed in
> order to create a distance to the "old order" (Sinter Klaas ->
> Claus, etc), retroflex r becomes a "shibboleth" between British andimmigrants
> American English; New York becomes port of entry for most
> who stay a generation in New York, New Yorkese becomes standardOops, should be "toity toid" (33rd).
> American with retroflex r's; East and South European immigration
> changes retroflex r's in New York to present "toity twee"
> pronounciation.
>
> Torsten