Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)

And Rosta scripsit:

> i was thinking of the waning accents that don't rhyme moan/mown,
> groan/grown.
Hmm.  What's the distinction phonetically?

> But you're right: I was perhaps misled by the spelling
> into thinking that _own_ was /own/ in Middle English, & I have no
> way of checking.
On investigation it was ME _owen_ all right.  It's just, I guess, that
I'm not used to OE a: > ME o: initially, although in other places
(sta:n > stone) it's the usual thing.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...> www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com
Micropayment advocates mistakenly believe that efficient allocation of
resources is the purpose of markets.  Efficiency is a byproduct of market
systems, not their goal.  The reasons markets work are not because users
have embraced efficiency but because markets are the best place to allow
users to maximize their preferences, and very often their preferences are
not for conservation of cheap resources.  --Clay Shirkey

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