Re: American Dutch dialects

--- On Thu, 2/26/09, tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

> From: tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...>
> Subject: [tied] Re: American Dutch dialects
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 7:15 PM
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister
> <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:
> >
> > Read Wikipedia
> >  
> >
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_English_regional_phonology
> >  
> > New York is NOT a rhotic dialect but Philadelphia is
> the only
> > rhotic dialect on the East Coast
>
> Dat's de toid time you tell me dat.
>
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_dialect#History :
> 'The origins of the dialect are diverse, and the source
> of many
> features is probably not recoverable. Labov ... claims that
> the
> vocalization and subsequent loss of (r) was copied from the
> prestigious London pronunciation, and so it started among
> the upper
> classes in New York and only later moved down the
> socioeconomic scale.
> This aristocratic r-lessness can be heard, for instance, in
> recordings
> of Franklin Roosevelt. After WWII, the r-ful pronunciation
> became the
> prestige norm, and what was once the upper class
> pronunciation became
> a vernacular one.'
>
> So the r-lessness may not be original, which is what I
> proposed.
>
>
> Torsten

In the wikipedia article they claim Philadelphia is the probable focal point for the spread of General American English. Keep in mind that in colonial times and for a while after independence, Philly was the largest city and the main port of entry to the US. NYC took off with the river steamboats and the Erie Canal.