George wrote:

vanishing) manifestations among our Finn population is the lack of
prepositions, resulting in "we go Green Bay watch the Packers."

Probably because their language is one of the most highly inflected still
spoken today. It makes Latin look like a cakewalk by comparison, I hear.

which is a result of mass communication. It's great reading about the

Another thing to think about. Until around the turn of the previous
century, it had never been possible to record or human speech before, nor
to transmit it over long distances.

Mass communication, even just print media, had a *big* role in changing the
way languages developed. That's why a huge chunks of territory in the New
World all speak one of the same four basic languages (English, Castillian
Spanish, Portuguese, French), while nearly every little country in the Old
World speaks a completely different language. We came over with printing
presses.

The language pattern here before was similar to the way it was back across
the pond. Every little regional group spoke a distinct language, with
broader relationships uniting some of them into families, much as German
and Dutch are vaguely related. That's the way people did things before
they figured out how to write, and how to distribute the written word
efficiently.

States have at least four very distinct ones? (New England, Southern,
Upper Midwest, General American)

and how did I grow up in the South speaking General American? Another
mystery. Nobody ever guesses where I'm from, because I sound like I could
be from anywhere.

And of course, North Carolina Southern is very different from Georgia
Southern which is quite different from Coonass Louisiana Southern.

Very much so. I was surprised how little resemblance Georgian bears to
Foghorn Leghorn. That rooster must have come from the Upstate of South
Carolina.

Anyone ever notice how the basic dialect spoken by black people in all
corners of the US sounds almost exactly like rural speech in the Sandhills
of NC? That one really surprised me.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/