--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
>
> Okay. Now you just have to find a way to make this English dialect
> import this feature into the main dialect of American English.
>
>
> Torsten
>
I've never actually read anything on the topic, but I'm sure rhotic
dialects were probably more widespread in England during the settling
of the U.S, since the loss of /r/ happened over the course of time and
therefore was probably not as widely dispersed at that time as now.
But after reading what Rick wrote, I now believe that American rhotic
pronunciation was more likely due to Irish and Scotch pronunciation
patterns, since as he said these were the primary components of
Midwest population. But it must be noted that these were native
speakers of English, not of a foreign language like Dutch.
Andrew