Re: Beijing, Zhongguo, etc.
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Monday, August 25, 2008, 19:16 |
|---|
On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 12:38 PM, Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...> wrote:
> Yes, exactly. When I said /E/ doesn't occur before /n/ and tends
> in borrowings to turn into /i/, I didn't mean that in native words it
> diphthongizes (or maybe triphthongizes) like /&/ before /n/, I meant
> it's realized as [I]; sorry I wasn't clear.
Ah, OK. I misunderstood.
As I said, while I'm familiar with the phenomenon, it's not part of my
'lect. But I didn't realize it was exhaustive and that all /En/s came
out as /In/s. I could have sworn the usual pronunciation in school
was "[pIn] and [pEnsIl]", not "[pIn] and [pInsIl]". Nor do I recall
female chickens being called [hIn]s. But I guess that could have been
phonemic normalization at work in my brain.
--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>