"Utahnics" as a Second Language

[SantaMufasa]

In the thread "English in the UK" (thread1256-999854):

Andy (HotFusion) offered that "Where are you going to?" can, in the more remote villages (of southwestern England), become "Where be gwain to?"

To that, Dimandja editorialised

"Where be gwain to?" Reads exactly like Ebonics to me.

I spent my early years in California, speaking "Ebonics as a Second Language", I also lived in England for several years learning “English as a Second Language (behind ‘Amurcan’)”, and now having migrated to my current residence in Utah, I have had the distinct opportunity of learning yet another language, "Utahics".

For those of you who stayed home during the 2002 Winter Olympics or have never traveled to Utah, let me enlighten you.

Utahnic pronunciation variations:

1) "or" pronounced as "ar" and "ar" pronounced as "or".
Standard pronunciation : "Margery feeds horses corn in the barn."
Sample Utahnic pronunciation: "Morgery feeds harses carn in the born."
The predominant religion here: "Marmons who pray to the Lard."
This pronunciation does not cause too much trouble unless you enlist in the "Ormy" and are stationed at "Fart Ard, Califarnia" !

2a) Low Utahics: Do not pronounce "t" sounds in the middle and end of words.
Examples:
"Button" becomes "Buh'un",
"Mountain" becomes "Mouw'un"
"Brighton Ski Area" becomes "Bry'un Ski Area"

2b) High Utahnics: "t" sounds, when pronounced at all, often become "d" sounds.
Sample Usages:
"Delta Airlines " becomes "Delda Airlines"
"Attitude" becomes "additude"
"Alta Ski Resort" becomes "Alda Ski Area"
"I goddagogedda book" means "I must go get a book."

3) Pronounce "il" phonemes as "el".
Sample Usages:
"Pillow" becomes "Pellow"
"Milk" becomes "Melk"

4) Pronounce "ah" phonemes as "ahr"
Sample Usages:
"Wash" becomes "Warsh"
"Squash" becomes "Squarsh"

5) Pronounce words ending in "sa" as "za".
Sample Usages: "Salsa" becomes "Salza".
"Mensa" becomes "Menza" (but hey, what's Mensa?)

6) Pronounce "ale" phonemes as "ell"
Sample Usages:
If something is available for purchase, It is not
"For sale", it is "For Sell"
When we empty the post box, we do not "get the mail",
we "get the mell".
The two genders here in Utah are "Mell" and "FeeMell".

Utahnic Phraseologies:

Utahnic: "What it is, is..."
Meaning: "The issue is..."

Utahnic: "But, Hey..."
Meaning: "Stop and consider this..."

Utahnic: "Set with me."
Meaning: "Sit with me."

Utahnic: "Ferignernt"
Meaning: "How Rude"
Derivation: "For ignorant"
Sample Usage: "When LaMar pulled LaDawn's hair, LaDawn shouted, "Ferignernt !" at LaMar.

Utahnic: "Oofer..."
Meaning: "How very..."
Derivation: "Oh for..."
Sample Usages: "LaRae remarked, 'Oofer Fun,' when she heard the weekend plans."
Can be combined with previous Utahnic, "Ooferignernt" meaning "How very rude".

Utahnic: "-ing" endings to words become "-un"
Sample Usages: "Going" becomes "go-un", "Heading" becomes "Head-un",
"Eating" becomes "Ee'un" (combines with previous "no-Ts" rule).

Utahnic: There is no past-tense plural conjugation of the verb infinitive "to be".
Sample Usages: "We was watch'un girls yessurday."

Utahnic: "Crick"
Meaning: "A small, stream-like flow of water."
Sample Usage: "We was hu'un up Mill Crick yessurday."
(Meaning: "We were hunting in Mill Creek yesterday.")

Utahnic: "Over Home"
Meaning: "Back Home" or "At Home"
Sample Usage: "I goddago over home fer lunch" means "I must go back home for lunch."

Utahnic: "Preeshaytya"
Meaning: "I appreciate you"

Utahnic Pseudo-French names:
"LaVell", "LaDell", "LaRue", "LaRae", "LaDawn", "LaMar", "LaVerne"

Utahnic Profanities:
"Flip", "Flippin'", "Dern", "Fetch'un'", "Freak'un", "Oh my heck", "Gosh Dang"
...and remember, In Utah, "Heck is where people go that don't believe in Gosh."

If your neck of the woods has its own endemic language (such as the many areas in the UK with their own languages), you’re welcome to post a lexicon here.


Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

http://www.dasages.com

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.

 

[edfair]

Are you sure that isn't an "end of the track" variation?
I haven't spent enough time there but the communications I've had with the natives haven't appeared that different from my normal speech pattern. But, then again, mine are heavily influenced by the south.
FWIW to those questioning the "end" comment. Sandy is the last stop on SLC's rapid rail system.
Didn't make it for the WO, but was there before and after. Last visit I got a look inside the control room for the fountain.


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[Dimandja]

I spent at least 3 years at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. I must admit that everyone west of Denver sounded axactly the same to me.

The only distinct accents I could recognize were from Minnesota and Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Maine, Georgia and Florida, Texas and Oklahoma, and of course the Washington DC area. I have heard of the Appalachian dialects also.

It never occurred to me that Utah had a distinct accent. Utah does have the "greatest snow on Earth" though.

 

[dgillz]

Some of what was posted was right out of my midwestern roots, IMHO. In particular "crick", "uns", and "what it is, is".

I too never thought of Utah as having a distinct accent. Having said that, many people don't think upstate Michigan and Wisconsin have accents (like Utah there are relatively few people who live there) but I can tell you they definately have their own accent.

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[BocaBurger]

You have the various NYC variations: I'm from "New Yawk", spent some time in Brooklyn near "toity toid street and toid avenyah" , then moved to "lon-giland".



BocaBurger
<===========================||////////////////|0
The pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword hurts more!

 

[Dimandja]

The Maine accent is so extreme that when I first arrived there, I actually did ask a group of people (at a local pub) where they were all from. "Maine, of course."

I was a bit shell-shocked.

 

[SantaMufasa]

But what they sounded like was "Mane-a-cos", right?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

http://www.dasages.com

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.

 

[Dimandja]

Right!

 

[SkipVought]

When I moved to Massachusetts, I met a neighbor who was telling me about his "patten" and I full believed that he was an inventor or an engineer.

But then, I discovered, "New Englandese", in some ways, similar to Utahnics.

My neighbor had a pattern.

"I have an idear! Pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd."

New England towns:
Peabody: prenounced PEE-bud-ee
Worcester: pronounceed WU-ster

and finally..........

Gloucester: pronounced GLOU-ster where the bronze statue of the Gloucester Fisherman, with the inscription, "They that go down to the sea in ships", some substitue Oldsmobile for ships
Chappaquiddick: pronounced in the same breath with Kennedy
Athol: pronounced as it seems, and ALL in juxtaposition by design.


Skip,
[sub]
[red]Be advised:[/red]When Viscounts were guillotined just as they were disclosing where their jewels were hidden, it shows to go that you should...
Never hatchet your Counts before they chicken! [/sub]

 

[DutyManager]

I'm from the maritimes and we have a few expressions of our own:

How's she goin'? means "How is your day going?" or "How are you doing?"

Right some good eh? Pronounced "rate some good eh" Means "That's really great" as in "Tim Horton's coffee is right some good" or "I got overtime this week, that'll be a raight some good paycheck"

Raight fun: Quite a lot of fun: "I like snowboarding, its raight fun."
I love it when they mix in "modern words" as in your boyfriends ex-girlfriend is "raight the beeyotch eh?"

For that matter, the national chain of Tim Horton's coffee is variously referred to as "Timmies" or in Newfoundland, Hortons, as in "Ise gwin up ta Hortons, ya wunt somethin" means "I am going for a coffee, did you want one?