Native English speakers will always be considered stupid!

Travis   Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:53 pm GMT
I cannot really say much about Estuary, honestly, but the NCVS is not really systematically spreading and replacing GA. For starters, the NCVS is a sound shift and not a dialect (even though it is closely associated with Inland North dialects), and while it has spread, it has only been superimposed upon the preexisting dialects rather than being part of any kind of dialect replacement; for instance, in the case of its spread to dialects in Wisconsin and Minnesota, it has only been added to the dialects already spoken there.

Furthermore, the NCVS is rather confined geographically; it has not spread into Canada, the Lower Midwest, or the coastal Northeast, but rather has solely spread westward into Wisconsin and Minnesota and is just beginning to spread into North Dakota. Likewise, it is confined socially, in that it really has not affected AAVE spoken in the Upper Midwest at all, despite AAVE dialects in those areas being in close contact with dialects with the NCVS.
Guest   Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:51 pm GMT
<<Really? More than Japan? *Rolls eyes at American arrogance*>>

Yes, more than Japan. They may enjoy making clever little gadgets but the work gets done in America. How many Nobel Prizes has Japan won?