USAGE: Fun with phonetics
From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
Date: | Thursday, February 10, 2005, 15:10 |
So today while driving in to work I was listening to a traffic report
from "Cap'n" Herb Emory on our local talk radio station, and I paused to
reflect on that odd title (a contraction of "Captain", for those who
haven't seen it before). Phonetically, it is one of the oddest words in
my native 'lect, involving a simultaneous articulation of [p] and [?]
followed by a simultaneous articulation of [m] and [n] (which sounds
more n-like; given the dental closure, the fact that the lips are closed
doesn't change the sound very much). The whole thing is something like
['k_h&?p_}).mn=)]. If you'd asked me before today if I had any such
combinations in my native 'lect, I would have been quite certain I did
not . . .
-Marcos
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