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Re: THEORY: counterpick (was: Re: THEORY: picking nits)

From:BP Jonsson <bpj@...>
Date:Monday, July 12, 1999, 17:32
At 09:30 -0600 28.6.1999, dirk elzinga wrote:
>On Sun, 27 Jun 1999, Matt Pearson wrote: > >> Dirk Elzinga wrote: >> >> >Actually, 'twoib' is not a possible English syllable. Consider: words >> >which begin with [tw] cannot have a round vowel following (we pronounce >> >'two' as [tu], after all, and get rid of that [w]), and the only >> >consonants allowed following the diphthongs [oi] and [aw] are alveolar; >> >they can never be of any other place of articulation. So 'twib' would be >> >a fine English word, or even 'toin', but never 'twoib'. [Caveat lector: >> >the forgoing information is my recollection of an English phonology >> >seminar I participated in about 3 years ago; counterexamples are >> >probable and welcome!] >> >> Well, there's "oink", "boink", and "zoinks", which have [oi] followed by >> a velar nasal. Granted, "oink" is (allegedly) onomatopoetic and "boink" >> and "zoinks" are pretty slangy, but they're still valid English words. > >Thanks. These would be genuine counterexamples, as far as I'm concerned. >Because they are neologisms and onomatopoeia, some might argue that >they really don't count, and that the generalization still stands. I >don't know that I'd take that position, though. However, I still am >deeply suspicious of [oib] as a possible syllable rhyme ... > >Dirk
What about "foible"? Neither neologism nor onomatopoetic. Probably French, tho! /BP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B.Philip Jonsson <bpj@...> <melroch@...> Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant! (Tacitus)