Re: My version

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:

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> --- On Thu, 2/19/09, Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...> wrote:
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> > From: Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...>
> > 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.
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> The problem is that Philadephia was the main entry point during
> colonial times.

But I'm talking post-revolutionary time, where (before the Irish
arrived) low New York would have been the only single-substrated
dialect to pick to set yourself apart from the British English of the
people you just liberated yourself from.


Torsten

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

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