Re: CHAT: The [+foreign] attribute

Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> Well, most Americans wouldn't either to my knowledge, while most Europeans can
> situate Paris and Prague. Also, Paris and Prague are country capitals, not St.
> Louis nor Chicago, so you cannot compare
Indeed, they aren't even state (= provincial) capitals.  With the exception
of Boston, Massachusetts, the large city in a state is almost never the
capital: historically, capitals have been situated in secondary cities,
because legislatures have been dominated by rural members who did not
trust The Big City.

This leads to a riddle on which I even trapped a native Kentuckian:
"How do you pronounce the capital of Kentucky, ['luIsvIl] or ['luwivIl]?"
People (especially Kentuckians) are so quick to say it's (normatively)
['luwivIl] that they are crushed by the reply, "No, it is pronounced
[fr&Nkfr\=t]."

> Nobody will deny that world geography is better taught in Europe than in
> America :))) .
Nobody will deny that geography is not taught at all in America.  :(((

--
John Cowan                                   jcowan@reutershealth.com
        "You need a change: try Canada"  "You need a change: try China"
                --fortune cookies opened by a couple that I know

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