On the Daily Show last night, there was a joke about a book titled “Chess Kiddin’”, clearly (it seems to me) a pun on “Just Kidding”. It reminded me of the pronunciation quirk I apparently have, where I pronounce the words “just”, “trust”, “brush”, “does”, “front”, and a few others, not with the standardly expected vowel of “nut” but rather with the vowel of “net”. Thus, for me, “just” rhymes with “chest”, “front” rhymes with “tent”, and so on. It’s important to note that I only do it with a very few words; “dust” and “bust” have the normal “nut” vowel for me and do not rhyme with “chest”, nor does “blunt” rhyme with “tent”.
I didn’t even realize these pronunciations of mine were nonstandard till a couple years ago, but once it was pointed out to me, I began to think it was an idiosyncrasy limited to me alone (having developed god knows how), being unable to find out about anyone else using the same pronunciation (except, as it turns out, my (South Indian) father). But now, after the joke on The Daily Show, I am suddenly made curious again about the possibility that others use such a pronunciation. So, basically, here I ask the world: are there others who use such pronunciations? Is this standard in any well-known accent? What phonological principles are at work here?
Near as I can reckon, it came to my neck of the woods by way of the Scots and Irish miners who emigrated to the Appalachian coal mines. Some of them moved west to Kentucky and Tennessee, then travelled north to work in the factories.
The ones I have met haven’t gone as far as your “trest, des, and frent,” but they sing “Jest a closer walk with thee.” You say you learned it from your South Indian father? That’s a new one on me. I’d like to know where your dad learned it.
I’m not sure I learned it from my South Indian father (most of one’s accent comes from one’s peers rather than one’s parents), though it does seem the most likely possibility (I seem to have picked up some other things from my parents rather than my peers, anyway. Saying “new” as “nyoo” rather than “noo”, for example, another difference from my peers I only realized a few years ago.).
Continuing my trend of not noticing interesting accent deviations till very late, I actually only noticed this January that my father shares the pronunciation quirk of the OP (he had made some joke rhyming “front” with “bent” or something like that), and I have no idea where he picked it up (perhaps a British connection?); he thought it was just the standard pronunciation, just as I did before I was shocked out of my ignorance. Somehow, production and perception are so linked that I even “hear” others saying it my way, even when I know they aren’t.
I’ve heard this mainly among rural Blacks–specifically, “rebba” for “rubber,” “tetch” for “touch,” and “hesh” for “hush.”
I’d say it’s a pretty common pronunciation for the unstressed adverb. OTOH ‘just’ is usually unstressed except when it’s at the end of a sentence, so there’s not much of a vowel sound either way.
Do you do it for both the adjective and the adverb ? Even when it’s stressed ?
Hm… it’s always hard to tell when you’re called to consciously think about it. I think I pronounce “just” as in “The verdict was just” with the “nut” vowel, but I say “justice” with the “net” vowel, as “jest iss”. But I can’t be sure. I need someone to catch me unguarded and record my speech, I suppose.
Phonetically, the dialectical pronunciation you describe developed because the s-sound articulated near the front of the mouth, while the “nut” vowel is articulated more toward the back. This effect is enhanced by the final “t”–this sound is pronounced even farther to the front. It comes out “jest” because your tongue has already moved forward to pronounce the “S” while you’re still saying the “u”. It’s very common for a following consonant to influence a vowel, and in some cases it may become a standard pronunciation. Otherwise it may develop into a dialect.
Interesting. I do it with “front” as well, like I said, but I suppose /s/ and /n/ are both alveolar. (And I don’t do it with “bust” or “dust”, but I suppose it’s not actually a regular or productive phonological process for me, just one I happened to pick up somewhere on some words)