Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!Paul.Hilfinger@CMU-CS-A From: Paul.Hilfinger@CMU-CS-A@sri-unix.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Phonetic query Message-ID: <3392@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Sat, 23-Jul-83 14:20:00 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.3392 Posted: Sat Jul 23 14:20:00 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 25-Jul-83 04:38:29 EDT Lines: 16 From: Paul.Hilfinger@CMU-CS-A (C410PH01) Does anyone have time for a completely trivial query? I've noticed that Larry Niven consistently renders the word ``yeah'' (officially pronounced with an `a' as in `air', `dare', or `Mary') as ``Yah.''At first, I thought that this was simply an instance of the superior observational powers of the professional writer and that I had never listened carefully to how people actually pronounced it. But when I started listening closely, I invariably heard `yeah' or `yuh' but never `yah.' So what is the explanation? Do people say `yeah' in Detroit, New Jersey, New York, Pittsburgh, and the San Francisco Bay area and `yah' everywhere else? Is Niven trying to throw eccentricities into his writing to slow me down? If so, he's succeeding. Paul Hilfinger (reply to Hilfinger@Berkeley)