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Re: E and e (was: A break in the evils of English (or, Sturnan is beautiful))

From:Tristan <zsau@...>
Date:Tuesday, May 7, 2002, 12:05
Roger Mills wrote:

>Do Forster and Foster contrast for you, or are they the same? I'd guess >Forster might have a longer vowel, or a schwa offglide??? >
No, they're different in quality and length (/fQst@/ and /fO:st@/). However, /fO:st@/ sounds fake, like /kO:stIk/ or /O:strij@/. Whether that's because it 'should be' /fQst@/ or because I'm used to saying what English people say /O:st/ for as /Qst/, I don't know.
>There aren't many other ...orsC# words, and they tend to be past tense >forms, like forced, coursed, (contrast with "cost"?); a few more -ors# >horse, force, course, gorse, source (vs. sauce?), Morse (vs. moss?), Norse; >and lots with -orC# >
Nah, it has to be specifically the -orst# thing, only words like 'caustic' (i.e. caustic soda) and 'Austria' change---'Aussie' is pronounced /Qzi/ because it's derived from 'Australia'. 'Coursed' and 'cost' do contrast. Dunno if it has anything to do with it being a past tense or not. Tristan