Re: CHAT: Phonemic status of English interdentals
From: | Stephen Mulraney <ataltanie@...> |
Date: | Friday, October 11, 2002, 0:12 |
On Thu, 10 Oct 2002 18:31:21 +0100
Tim May <butsuri@...> wrote:
> John Cowan writes:
> > Stephen Mulraney scripsit:
Non ego, sed Iohannus, O Tim.
> > I can hardly imagine saying anything but [fEl@] (did you really mean [r&]
> > there?) in any but the most formal contexts. "Fellow traveler" is
> > [fElou tr&v@l@r`] because it is a formal political expression, but
> > "Are any of the fellows here yet?" would be [fEl@z].
>
> Surely the pronunciation in "fellow traveller" is more due to its
> being used as an adjective than the formality of the phrase? I agree
> with you as to the pronunciation as a noun, although I'd be unlikely
> to use the word at all. But "fellow athletes" or "fellow faculty
> members" would still be pronounced [fElou], wouldn't they?
I think so. Certainly in my dialect, "[fElE] athletes" is very wrong.
And this is a dialect where saying [fElou], as a noun indicates that
you're either joking or giving yourself airs ;).
--
Stephen Mulraney <ataltane at oceanfree.net>
A billion saved is a billion earned. -- Norman Augustine
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