USAGE: foreignisms [was Re: The [+foreign] attribute]

Quoting bnathyuw <bnathyuw@...>:

> what _is_ very common is [tr\EIt] for [tr\EI] in the
> word 'trait'
I have to wonder if the latter pronunciation is a
learned restoration of the original pronunciation.
The word has been around in English for a relatively
long time (since 1589, at least).  I don't know when
French lost the /t/, but even if it was originally
[tRE], it seems almost perverse to object to the
presence of the spelling-pronunciation now.

Certainly, in America, [treIt] (with [t]) is universal,
which may mean the word has always been pronounced with
a [t].  (Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony had been
planted only four years before that date, and the Jamestown
settlers were getting situated not long afterwards.)

> as for 'garage' both ['g&r\A:Z] ( note stress ) and
> ['g&r\IdZ] occur in yUK. i use the former, but it's
> not that common
What do you mean by "yUK" -- youngpeople's UK speech?

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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