Lose $$ because of vernacular

December 23rd, 2012 at 3:11:11 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Contestant Renee Durette lost $3,850 was on the game show "Wheel of Fortune." She had asked for the letter 'g' as one of her letters, but when she pronounced the winning anwer - "Seven Swans a Swimmin" they disallowed her answer for dropping the letter 'g'.

Approximately 60% of English speakers pronounce gerund -ing differently from participial -ing .

In such cases, the gerund form is pronounced /ɪŋ/, so if she had said "Swimming is good exercise" she would pronounce the g.
The participial form is pronounced /ɪn/ . This actually reflects the older etymology of the two forms, as the participial form originally did not have a g, so these speakers are not actually "dropping the g" in the historic sense.

So while the pronunciation " Swimmin' " while not standard is actually used by the majority of people in the country. I wonder how the show's producer would handle the backlash if the contest used AAVE.
December 24th, 2012 at 12:48:42 AM permalink
odiousgambit
Member since: Oct 28, 2012
Threads: 154
Posts: 5055
I've always thought the show was needlessly cruel in a lot of ways
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December 27th, 2012 at 7:10:36 PM permalink
TheCesspit
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 23
Posts: 1929
I doubt you could tell if I pronounce the 'g' or not...
It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die.... it's called Life
December 28th, 2012 at 4:06:29 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
In the first 40 minutes of the first presidential debate, Senator Obama used 84 gerund-participles, and dropped 8 g's. A g-dropping rate of about 10% is not at all out of line for someone in his position — in comparison, in the same period of the same debate, Senator McCain dropped 10 g's in 66 opportunities.

I guess that the President better not try to play WOF.

Quote: Vanishing American
''On MSNBC, the African-American author Karen Hunter complained the news service transcribed Obama's speech without cleaning it up as other outlets did--specifically including the "dropped g's."

Via the AP version:
"Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do."

Hunter called the AP's version "inherently racist," sparring with New Republic contributing editor and noted linguistics expert John McWhorter, who argued the g-less version "is actually the correct one," noting that the president's victory in the 2008 election was due, in part, to how effortlessly "he can switch into that [black] dialect."

Vanishing American
December 28th, 2012 at 7:13:52 AM permalink
Mosca
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 22
Posts: 730
This whole thing sounded like only a partial story to me, so I did some research.

1) Contestants on WoF are instructed, multiple times, that pronunciation is important. An ex-contestant said that it is drilled into them. If you watch the show frequently, you'll notice that lots of contestants enunciate obvious solutions pedantically. They know that it is required.

2) Puzzles do turn up where vernacular is in the solution: a previous puzzle from a few years ago was "pickin' and a grinnin' ".

3) If you watch the episode in question, she didn't slur the "swimmin' ", or mispronounce it like people sometimes say, "swimmeen"; it sounded like she went out of her way to say, "swimmin' ".

4) Game show producers do not like controversy. They want to give away the money; someone is going to get it regardless. In this case, if they'd have given her the money, I believe the other contestants would have had a valid complaint... and the producers would have also set precedent for future shows.

5) In an interview, Durette absolves the show of any wrongdoing, saying that it was her mistake, not theirs.


IMO, there is no controversy here. If anything, I think it is controversial to think that a contestant in this situation should be allowed to slide by. The very least someone can do when money is on the line is follow the instructions properly on how to pick it up.
December 28th, 2012 at 7:24:58 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Mosca
4) Game show producers do not like controversy.


Maybe a little bit. After all, all shows are taped, and they can chose what to air. Not all taped "episodes" get aired.
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