Silent l in wolf

[g***@gmail.com]

How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central
Pennsylvania.

[Purl Gurl]

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvanians are el challenged.

You could conduct a nationwide survey to discover
which regional dialects drop the L in those words.

Southeast Oklahoma, northeast Texas, northwest Arkansas,
your "wolf" is usually enunciated wool-f and "wolves"
is usually enunciated wool-fs by Okies of the region.

I have heard "woove" used in the Louisiana, Georgia and
Alabama regions.

I tend to drop the L when being playful with my husband.

Woof! Woof! Grrrrr.... Woof! Woof!

Purl Gurl - rahhhley dahhhhling, you're such a wooove

[R H Draney]

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central
Pennsylvania.

Non-US, I believe (recalling an old girlfriend of mine) it's also silent in
Hampshire....r

[Salvatore Volatile]

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central
Pennsylvania.

Not widespread; I wasn't aware it existed it all. I associate
non-lambdicism with ModBrE.

I knew a guy, New York (LCIA) native, who appeared to pronounce "cold" and
"code" alike, but that was idiolectal. I am non-lambdic in "always" and
"almost" (that's a New York [LCIA] dialectism, I think).

[Al in Dallas]

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 18:31:48 +0000 (UTC), Salvatore Volatile

Post by Salvatore Volatile

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central
Pennsylvania.

Not widespread; I wasn't aware it existed it all. I associate
non-lambdicism with ModBrE.
I knew a guy, New York (LCIA) native, who appeared to pronounce "cold" and
"code" alike, but that was idiolectal. I am non-lambdic in "always" and
"almost" (that's a New York [LCIA] dialectism, I think).

But if *you* are not Archie, who is?

[j***@yahoo.com]

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central
Pennsylvania.

I hear it now and then, but I didn't know it was part of any specific
dialect--I thought it was just individual variation. Do other people
in south-central Pennsylvania say it?

If you don't get an answer here, you could try sci.lang.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Matthew Huntbach]

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central
Pennsylvania.

A feature of modern southern English English, otherwise known as
"Estuary English", is that final 'l', and 'l' after a vowel and before
a consonant becomes "dark", that is becomes almost a 'u' vowel, or a 'w'
consonant. We don't have much need to talk about wolves in London, but
if we did, the letter 'l' would be almost silent in this way.

Matthew Huntbach

[Phil Carmody]

Post by Matthew Huntbach

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l silent
in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south central
Pennsylvania.

A feature of modern southern English English, otherwise known as
"Estuary English", is that final 'l', and 'l' after a vowel and before
a consonant becomes "dark", that is becomes almost a 'u' vowel, or a 'w'
consonant. We don't have much need to talk about wolves in London, but
if we did, the letter 'l' would be almost silent in this way.

Bu Couchesta av to play Wouvs twice each season.
An Wess Brom, an Soufamton. Sah you do ear i'.

Phil

[Amethyst Deceiver]

Post by Matthew Huntbach

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l
silent in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south
central Pennsylvania.

A feature of modern southern English English, otherwise known as
"Estuary English", is that final 'l', and 'l' after a vowel and before
a consonant becomes "dark", that is becomes almost a 'u' vowel, or a
'w' consonant. We don't have much need to talk about wolves in
London, but if we did, the letter 'l' would be almost silent in this
way.

Apparently not just modern SEE. YoungBloke, with a fantastic Manchestoh
accent, refers to the oboe in the middle of his arm. Actually, he also talks
about the oboe in the middle of his leg...

[Pat Durkin]

Post by Amethyst Deceiver

Post by Matthew Huntbach
A feature of modern southern English English, otherwise known as
"Estuary English", is that final 'l', and 'l' after a vowel and before
a consonant becomes "dark", that is becomes almost a 'u' vowel, or a
'w' consonant. We don't have much need to talk about wolves in
London, but if we did, the letter 'l' would be almost silent in this
way.

Apparently not just modern SEE. YoungBloke, with a fantastic
Manchestoh accent, refers to the oboe in the middle of his arm.
Actually, he also talks about the oboe in the middle of his leg...

Great story. I know that "elbow" has caused a pause to me from time to
time. It has always seemed a strange word. But now, it occurs to me
that Young Bloke's invention solves my quandary. The letter "ell" must
have come before the name of the mid-arm joint, the place where the arm
bows into an "L" shape.

Encarta has this for etymology:

[ Old English el(n)boga "arm bend" < Germanic]


M-W.com:

Etymology: Middle English elbowe, from Old English elboga, from el-
(akin to eln ell) + Old English boga bow -- more at

and "Ell":
Etymology: Middle English eln, from Old English; akin to Old High
German elina ell, Latin ulna forearm, Greek OlenE elbow, Sanskrit aratni

Oh, well, I guess I have the time backwards, right? The letter name is
based on the anatomical origin?

But that is OK. Thanks to YB, I have relieved my mind of a minor but
persistent irritation. The world can now move on. Hooray!

[Robert Bannister]

Post by Amethyst Deceiver

Post by Matthew Huntbach

Post by g***@gmail.com
How widespread in the US is the dialect that makes the letter l
silent in wolf and wolves? I notice it in my family from south
central Pennsylvania.

A feature of modern southern English English, otherwise known as
"Estuary English", is that final 'l', and 'l' after a vowel and before
a consonant becomes "dark", that is becomes almost a 'u' vowel, or a
'w' consonant. We don't have much need to talk about wolves in
London, but if we did, the letter 'l' would be almost silent in this
way.

Apparently not just modern SEE. YoungBloke, with a fantastic Manchestoh
accent, refers to the oboe in the middle of his arm. Actually, he also talks
about the oboe in the middle of his leg...

When we still lived in SE England, I could never tell whether my younger
brothers were saying "balled egg" or "baud egg"; certainly, it was not
"boiled". The really difficult words have two Ls like "worldly".