And in other news, sometyping I typed up while internetless...

[conuly]

OMG! This is, like, so cool!

I’m watching one of those design shows with my mom (hey, it’s a nice change from icky news on the election), and I’m about to criticize the woman on the show (the one who is getting a new den) for talking like she swallowed a thesaurus when I noticed something – she said “den” like “dan”! So of course I freak and start talking to my mom about how OMG cool this is, and how it’s a sign of some sort of vowel shift, or something, and she does it again! And then she says “done” but it’s not “dun” it’s “dahn”. Eeeeee! So I’m freaking out, and going into minor linguistic glee when I realize that I have *got* to post this. If I don’t, I’ll never forgive me. So here I am, posting. I’m such a geek.

*runs back to see if there’s any more*

Oooooh! There was! She says "rilly" instead of "really". Sooooooo cool. And she says the short oo (like book) where I'd use the long one (like boo). But I've heard that before, right Xigs?

Comments

[feathered.livejournal.com]

...I suppose I say "rilly," then.

I wonder if it's a general Wyoming thing, or if it's a pronunciation idiosyncracy of mine specifically.

[conuly]

Now you'll be stuck listening to people and finding ways to prompt them to say the word (and similar words) to see how they pronounce them.

Do you also say real and deal to rhyme with hill and Jill?

[feathered.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, not at all. And no one else in Wyoming does either, I'm sure of it. I'd notice that. We know the difference between dealing cards and eating dill pickles.

[conuly]

So, it's just that you dissimilate ee to ih before the vowel ee? Or is it only before "lee"? Would you say tinny where I'd say teeney, or slippy where I'd say sleepy? Or maybe kih-wee for the bird/fruit?

*is tired AND curious, a dangerous combination*

[feathered.livejournal.com]

All of those have ee sounds. It's just "really" that doesn't. To me, it sounds quite unnatural to say "reelee," just as unnatural as it would sound to say "kih-wee."

[conuly]

Huh. Interesting. No idea what it means, but... interesting.

[feathered.livejournal.com]

It's quite possible that I picked it up from someone who said all of the others. I think I'm a bit of a sponge when it comes to pronunciation -- I blame it on the fact that when I talk with people, I almost always find myself unconsciously mimicking their body language and word emphases and vowel sounds. It doesn't usually stick around for long outside of a conversation with the person, but if I talk with someone enough, I think I sort of steal the way they talk more permanently. Some words that I say have a distinct Canadian bent, just because the person outside of family who I spend the most time with is from Canada.

Then again, it might be regional. I just asked my friend Nick how he says "really," and he says that he only ever uses ree-lee when it comes to emphasizing. If something is especially large, he says reeeee-lee. Rest of the time he says rilly. I think he lives in northern AZ, which isn't terribly far from Wyoming.. Well, it is, but not much in comparison to other places.