6

When I was six I moved from Manchester (northwestern England) to Bath (southwestern England). I was baffled to hear my school mates describe the 'aerials' they lived in.

Fast forward many years and I live in Bristol (10 miles from Bath). I find now that sometimes I add 'L's to words ending in vowel sounds, involuntarily! Because that's how Bristolians (and Bathonians) speak (although they didn't always - the city name, originally was Brycgstow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bristol)).

I'm wondering whether anywhere else routinely adds an 'L', or any other letter for that matter, to words ending with a vowel sound.

Improve this question
15
  • I'm vaguely recalling at least one person I once knew here in the US who spoke like that. I took it to just be another twist on the common rural accent, but it may well have been "imported" from Bath 100 years ago. As Ricky says, "r" is more common, but is readily identifiable as a New England accent.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Oct 31, 2015 at 1:15
  • Yes, it's the L thing that's unusual, I think. It's very widespread, contagious and often ridiculous - Tinal Turnal, for example.
    – Dan
    Commented Oct 31, 2015 at 1:22
  • @HotLicks In New England they do the opposite, they omit the "r' after a vowel. I often heard "I'm buying a new ca.(car)" "Look at these cads (cards)", etc. when I lived there.
    – Centaurus
    Commented Oct 31, 2015 at 1:23
  • 2
    Pahk yuh cahr in Haahvahd Yahd.
    – Dan
    Commented Oct 31, 2015 at 1:27
  • 2
    We add 'r's in Boston, too. "I sawr him pahk his cahr in Hahvahd Yahd."
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jan 1, 2016 at 14:08

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

I personally have never heard an l added to the end of most vowel sounds -I live in the United States-, but I have a friend who, when a syllable ends with a "w", will then add an L. This often makes the W have an "ah" sound and I suppose it could then phonetically be considered a vowel. For example, when he says draw or drawing, he pronounces it as "drawl" or "drawling". I assume that it may be because of an accent although I'm not really sure because I have noticed some of his other family members do the same thing.

Improve this answer
4
  • Funny, I just wrote this comment under the question: My buddy, who hails from the affluent suburbs of Pennsylvania and is of Eastern European Jewish + Northern Italian extraction, saws "sawL" instead of "saw". He does it consistently. He's the only person I've ever met who pronounces it that way. Where is your friend from?
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Feb 3, 2016 at 13:02
  • @DanBron He lives on the west coast, but his family is from the northeast United States. I guess it's a regional thing.
    – Morella Almånd
    Commented Feb 3, 2016 at 13:03
  • Does this happen ONLY for '-aw' words? The Bristol 'l' is indiscriminately added to any word with a final vowel sound...
    – Dan
    Commented Feb 4, 2016 at 0:36
  • @Dan In my experience, Yes, but as whether other people add the "l" to the end of any vowel sound- I don't know.
    – Morella Almånd
    Commented Feb 4, 2016 at 3:09

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .