From: Rick McCallister
Message: 63195
Date: 2009-02-19
> From: Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...>The problem is that Philadephia was the main entry point during colonial times. The Dutch settlers in NY stayed there while the Scots, Scots-Irish, Welsh and German who arrived in Philadelphia spread out in a V across the US
> Subject: [tied] Re: My version
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 8:49 AM
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen"
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> > AFAIK American English has three main dialect groups,
> New
> > England, Southern and Standard. On a map, Standard
> looks like it
> > fanned out of New York, like smoke from a smokestack,
> with the two
> > other dialects on the side, with the old British
> colonial centers
> > Boston and Virginia, emphasizing the role of those
> ports as entry
> > points for later (New York) and early immigration. New
> York was
> > originally Dutch speaking. Those are the sociological
> facts. There
> > is no way that would not have influenced the phonology
> of Standard
> > American. AFAIK no one ever looked at the question
> from this angle.
>