Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 00:21:03 EST Reply-To: American Dialect Society Sender: American Dialect Society From: Ron Butters Subject: empirical data for ENVELOP To: ADS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU I gave my Intro to Linguistics class this morning the following sentence to transcribe: Tom pushed the evidence into the fat red envelope. Peter made a bad pun: "That's really pushing the envelope." n = 24. Student ages: 18-21. 7M, 17F. 2 African American, 22 white. Results: (E = the vowel in YET, O = the vowel in CAUGHT, I = the vowel in PICK, A = the stressed vowel in FATHER, * = schwa, ow = the vowel in BOAT): Env*lowp = 25 Inv*lowp = 4 Onv*lowp = 7 Anv*lowp = 6 *nv*lowp = 4 One student (F, Chicago suburbs) wrote that either [*nv*lowp] or [Env*lowp] is possible. Six of the 7 [Onv*lowp] or [Anv*lowp] speakers were female; 6 were from the South (the exception was a female [Onv*lowp] speaker from Malvern, PA). The male wrote [*nv*lowp] the first time and [Onv*lowp] the second time. The two [Inv*lowp] speakers were also from the South, one M, one F. All of the other male speakers (both Southerners and non- southerners) wrote [Env*lowp], except for one who wrote [*nv*lowp] and then [Env*lowp]. I had wondered if the metaphorical use in the second instance might not be different, but it does not seem to have been significantly so. On Thursday I will discuss this with them after first trying to elicit subjective reactions from them concerning the variable. My guess is that A and O are going to be thought of as "nicer" by the F's and a little unmasculine by the M, though regional distribution seems of some secondary importance.