Re: CHAT: F.L.O.E.S.

Tom Wier:
> From:    Joe <joe@...>
> > Douglas Koller, Latin & French wrote:
> > > Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! /k&rioki/ makes my flesh crawl. It's
> > > /karaoke/, plain and simple. People may think I sound affected when I
> > > say it that way, but I've lived in Japan -- I've earned it.
> >
> > But that's just not English.  The English word 'karaoke' is pronounced
> > [k&rioki] - no two ways about it.  The Japanese word 'karaoke' is
> > pronounce [karaoke].  When using a word in a borrowing, the word must
> > fit the languages phonology(well, unless someone really wants to sound,
> > well, snobby).   In such a language as English, it's not neccesary to
> > change the spelling - English doesn't spell phonetically anyway.
>
> But what you're saying has nothing to do with English
> phonology, per se.  If we borrowed the word based on the
> Japanese pronunciation, and ran it through whatever constitutes
> our generative phonology, we'd get something like [k_hAr@jowkej]
> (with aspiration, diphthongization and epenthesis of the glide
> [j] as through the native lexicon) or perhaps [k_hArowkej],
> but certainly not [k_h&rijowki] (or for those of us raising /&/
> before /r/, [k_hErijowki]).  That latter pronunciation comes
> from a spelling-pronunciation, and spelling is formally
> independent of language use (in all languages, not just English).
It can't be just a spelling pronunciation. Consider _harakiri_,
the correct pronunciation of which in British demotic is
'harry-carry'.

--And.

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