From: Mate Kapovic
Message: 30405
Date: 2004-01-31
----- Original Message -----
From: "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2004 1:22 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Estimated timeframe of albanian s->sh transformation
> That's interesting, since the American War of Independence was in
> that period, and since the Americans (at least in the standard (low,
> Dutch-influenced?) dialect that spread from New York) didn't
> drop /r/'s. Any indication that this had become a English/American
> shibboleth already then?
NY traditionally drops the r's. The fashion of dropping the r's spread (and
generalized) there and in other cities on the East coast in the 19th
century. But since 1945. r-pronouncing American became prestigous. You can
still hear the old r-less pronouciation norm in American films or series
where the older East coast ladies and such tend to speak that way. In those
same movies and TV shows, younger people tend to pronounce the r-s.
Mate