HUM:Another less Crass take

[Eric Alan Weinstein]

My last post sounded pretty patronizing and stupid when
I re-read it.
So Sorry for that. 
Perhaps I can do a better job on a meta level.

 
>>
>>"Turn off that faucet, Dorset" (p.124)
>>
>>Is "faucet" pronounced FOR-set?  (as indeed it CAN be some places in the U.S.)
>>
>>Or is "Dorset" pronounced DAW-set? (what about that big hotel near the Marble
>>Arch?)
>>
>>Are there even more possibilities?
>>
>>British reply requested.
>>
>>
>>				P.
>>
>>
>>I can only offer pronunciation for South-East England of
>the middle class variety, so this only applies to about 13
> million persons, about 22.5% of GB's population. 

(Which is to say I am aware of the class and ethnic accent
variation  but can only really analyize my own Home Counties
semi-rp with any consistancy---and I spent 6 years of my life
in New York to confuse matters more) 
 
>
>1) Faucet would be faw-sit, except tap is more commonly used.
>
>2) Dorset would be Door-sit, except older residents would
>retain the slight regional "Wessex" pronounciation associated
>with Hardy novels, rending -"sit" more like "-set", and extending
>the "oo" or "aw" sound. My grand-uncle Sid lives in Dorset, 
>but he spent his childhood in Hackney and his prime in
>Beverly Hills, so he doesn't count as much of a Wessex man.

Clearly Faucet and Dorset would ryme rather ridiculously, especially
if one imagines the clipped British accents of WWII officers in B-movies.
I think also of "Damn it, Janet" from Rocky Horror Picture Show here,
for some reason. 

>Although British people seem to be sounding more 
>alike, it is still possible to hear real and distinct regional
>distinctions and variations by traveling only about ten miles
>or so, again especially among the poor and the old.

Yes, here's me being crass. Let me try again. Variations on
versions of standard English (and this goes for the regional
standards as well---in other words, there is a Northern English
which is closer to "standard semi-rp", and a Welsh and Scottish
accent which is also close to standard, and these movements towards
standardization tend to be strongest among under-forties, and among
urban and suburban (rather than rural) persons, and among
persons outside the least fortunate economic groups. It should be 
said, however, that large chunks of the traditional working class
(C1,C2, C3) are also moving closer to standard English.


>may possible to hear different versions of the sound of 
>the word even within the county of Dorset itself.  
> 


This information is based on information from the Survey of
English Usage. 

The Survey of English Usage (SEU)
            an English Language research unit,
            based at University College
            London.  

          The Survey of English Usage was
            founded in 1959 by Professor
            Randolph Quirk (now Lord Quirk).
            He was succeeded in 1983 by
            Professor Sidney Greenbaum, who
            was Director until 1996. 

>>
>>
>Eric Alan Weinstein
>Centre For English Studies
>University Of London
>E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk 
>
>
>
>
Eric Alan Weinstein
Centre For English Studies
University Of London
E.A.Weinstein at qmw.ac.uk