Paul.Hilfinger@CMU-CS-A@sri-unix.UUCP (07/23/83)
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)