Sound Change Quickie Thread

[bradrn]

/l/-vocalization is common in English dialects, but what people seem to find notable about /l/-vocalization in Milwaukee dialect is that it occurs not just in codas but also intervocalically and even in onsets.

Ah, that’s interesting. Where does it happen in onsets?

[Travis B.]

In my own idiolect at least I only have lateral consonants in careful speech and when geminate (e.g. in thoroughly /ˈθərəlli/ [θʁ̩ˤːʁˤɯːʟ̞ːi(ː)] ─ yes, that's right, it has a geminate in it, as it is derived from thorough /ˈθərəl/ [ˈθʁ̩ˤːʁˤɯ(ː)], which in the dialect here ends in /l/).

(In dialect initial /θ/ is often [t̪], but I chose to transcribe it as [θ] as this is a rather common pronunciation.)

[Travis B.]

/l/-vocalization is common in English dialects, but what people seem to find notable about /l/-vocalization in Milwaukee dialect is that it occurs not just in codas but also intervocalically and even in onsets.

Ah, that’s interesting. Where does it happen in onsets?

Everywhere outside of word or stressed syllable-initially in careful speech or, in any register, in geminates.

[Travis B.]

(When I first noticed this I was like "is this some strange speech impediment on my part?" but then from listening around, everyone else from here seemed to do it too outside careful speech.)

[Travis B.]

(You are probably wondering how an /l/ got in thorough ─ my guess is that the final /o/ got unrounded partly due to being unstressed, and then got reanalyzed as /əl/ due to unstressed /o/ in words such as tomato and potato remaining as [o̞]; then in turn thoroughly changed by analogy so as to have /ll/ in it.)

[Darren]

[θʁ̩ˤːʁˤɯːʟ̞ːi(ː)]

that is heinous

[Travis B.]

[θʁ̩ˤːʁˤɯːʟ̞ːi(ː)]

that is heinous

As I mentioned, I commonly actually pronounce that [ˈt̪ʁ̩ˤʁˤɯːʟ̞ːi(ː)].

If it's the pharyngealized uvular rhotics, well... that's just normal for the dialect here ─ it may seem odd for an English variety, and it may be our own innovation here or it may be due to substratum influence from various German dialects.

If it's the [ɯ], that's just the normal realization of syllabic /l/ here (note that it is near-close not close).

If it's the pairing of long syllabic consonants/vocalized consonants followed by non-syllabic consonants, that is the normal realization of /əR/ before a vowel here.

If it's the [ʟ̞ː], yes, that one's a mouthful ─ I'm not sure how I normally manage to reliably pronounce it considering I normally vocalize all other instances of /l/ to death.

Of course, all this combines to make something that looks horrific when transcribed but which really is easier to pronounce than you'd think if you're used to it.