Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)

Tristan scripsit:

> Wouldn't it make more sense for 'ou' to have the sound of /au/ or /&u/?
> 'ow' spells long 'o' more times than 'ou' does, I would've thought.
> (e.g. window, row, know.)
Actually no, according to Wijk's research.  It's more or less a matter
of accident which words got "ou" and which got "ow" in the standard
spelling, except that "ow" is (almost?) always used finally.

The great majority of all ou/ow words have the sound of "how".  There
are only about 35 words (plus their derivatives) with the long "o" sound.
Additionally, "knowledge" and "acknowledge" have the short "o" sound,
about 10 words have the short "u" sound (e.g. double, country, cousin),
"should" and "could" and "would" have the short "oo" sound, and about
25 words have the long "oo" sound (e.g. group, soup, you, youth, (un)couth,
cougar, coup(on), rouge).

> Is 'route' spelt two ways, or does it retain its present spelling, or
> does something weird happen to it? I talk of bus /r0:ts/, you, I would
> imagine, of bus /rauts/.
I talk of /rauts/ only in computer contexts, but say /ruts/ for bus routes,
etc.  The latter pron. is native, the former is a borrowing from more Western
(N.A.) dialects.

--
Knowledge studies others / Wisdom is self-known;      John Cowan
Muscle masters brothers / Self-mastery is bone;       jcowan@reutershealth.com
Content need never borrow / Ambition wanders blind;   www.ccil.org/~cowan
Vitality cleaves to the marrow / Leaving death behind.    --Tao 33 (Bynner)