Re: word separation (was:Hobbits spoke ?)

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 10:01:05 +0100, Joe <joe@...> wrote:

>Marshall and Endemann wrote:
>
>>on 30/10/04 9:07 PM, J. 'Mach' Wust at j_mach_wust@YAHOO.COM wrote:
>>
>>>But 'oil cloth' and 'oilcloth' are the same.
>>
>>Not the way I say them - as with black bird as opposed to blackbird, the
>>two words contain more or less equal stress and duration. In the compound
>>word the second syllable has significantly less stress and shorter
>>duration than the first. The meanings are different too - 'oilcloth', a
>>kind of linen (or cotton?) impregnated with oil - 'oil cloth' a cloth for
>>cleaning up oil.
>>
>>Or maybe that's only Kiwi usage?
>
>No, English too.  'a black bird' is different to 'a blackbird'.
Then I was mistaken. However, the difference is in the stress patterns (and
in the phonetic changes they trigger), not in some kind of 'hiat' between them.

gry@s:
j. 'mach' wust