Re: USAGE: [YAEPT] non-rhotic r (was Re: "To whom")

On Fri, Jan 28, 2005 at 11:07:32AM +1100, Tristan McLeay wrote:
> Also don't forget that after /a: o: u@ e: I: 2: @/, no matter the
> origin (bra~bar, lore~law, pure, care, deer~idea, fur, harder~data), if
> the next word begins in a vowel, a hiatus-avoding [r\] is inserted.
> Unless you want to posit that 'law' is /lo:r/, you still have to create
> a rule that says you need to add it, so really it's no big advantage.
Now wait just a doggone minute.  Not pronouncing |r|s that are right in
front of you is one thing, but inserting *extra* |r|s where none is to
be found is Just Plain Wrong. ;-)

> 'Farther' is another one: Most of the time I've seen it from
> Australians, the word clearly meant 'father', not 'further' ('farthest'
> is also disused, but it's homophonous with nothing so it's never used
> instead of something else). The world would be a less
> spelling-mistake-prone place if MS removed the word 'farther' from the
> AuE spell checker.)
Interesting.  "Farther" is IMD the normal comparative of "far", whereas
"further" is more restricted, being basically short for "furthermore"
(e.g. when continuing an argument).

> PS: Any [r] mean [r\]. And don't be scared by other things in square
> brackets either, I'm using very broad transcriptions almost to the
> point of being phonemic :)
No worries, mate.  *Reading* things in brackets doesn't scare me at all.
It's trying to get it right when I'm originating the notation which I
find frightening. :)

-Marcos