Re: USAGE: Shavian: was Re: USAGE: Con-graphies

Yahya Abdal-Aziz wrote:
> Hi Ray,
[snip]
>>It has when combined with universal education. Indeed, as I showed in an
>>email a week or so back, there has in my lifetime been a distinct move
>>towards _spelling pronunciations_ in words such as 'often', 'pestle',
>>'porpoise', 'tortoise' inter_alia.
>
>
> Yes, I read that.  FWIW, I've never yet heard an
> Australian, New Zealander or South African give
> a spelling pronunciation to either 'porpoise' or
> 'tortoise' - except in jest.  You know the story
> about "To all in tents and porpoises"?
>
> BTW, my wife and her family all say "fore-head";
> even her parents used to (both died at over 90),
> whereas I and my family all say "forrid", rhyming
> perfectly with "horrid" and "torrid".
...and I still say 'forrid' - 'cause that's the way everyone around me
said it when I was a youngster.

But, indeed, the erstwhile silent -h- has been restored fairly widely
among generations younger than mine. Seems as tho it reached Oz many
years ago, so it is probably only a matter of time before the strange
porpOYzes & tortOYzes arrive there (the spelling pronunciation seems to
stress the [Qj] sound)

A fairly universal example of spelling pronunciation is _hotel_. In my
grandparents' generation it was still commonly pronounced the French way
with no initial [h]. But that pronunciation is practically never heard
now, except of course among those who have no initial [h] for any word.

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
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"A mind which thinks at its own expense will always
interfere with language."         J.G. Hamann, 1760

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