For about 3 months I have been living up here in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. Since being here I have come to greatly appreciate my own variant of English (Not to say that how people speak up here is anywhere near bad).
When I first started catering (no longer cater, now I am in payroll), I was asked by one of my co-workers "do we have another beg (what I heard)." For a moment I was unsure of what they wanted but then figured it out. I have known for years that here in the upper Midwest it is common to raise the vowel (/æ/ i.e. the vowel in cat) to where it sound similar to the vowel in eight (/e/). Thus rendering bag as what others who don't have this shift as beg.
The vowel does not have to be /e/ (ei-) but it will be somewhere between /æ/ and /e/ (cat and eight). This raising happens before voiced velar sounds (/g/ e.i. g and /ŋ/ e.i. ng).
Now whenever I say the verb 'beg' I cannot help but to think I mean bag...
The vowel does not have to be /e/ (ei-) but it will be somewhere between /æ/ and /e/ (cat and eight). This raising happens before voiced velar sounds (/g/ e.i. g and /ŋ/ e.i. ng).
Now whenever I say the verb 'beg' I cannot help but to think I mean bag...
-Нафаня-
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