Re: THEORY: language and the brain [Interesting article]

Tristan scripsit:

> Unfortunately, that's one that can't be reliable, because there are
> people who use the short/lax vowel in room, roof, whereas I don't... And
> exceptions, such as 'spook', will always be around to defy me.
"Spook" is a 19th-century borrowing (from Dutch, IIRC) and so confounds
the rules.  I argued on the Elfling list that the pronunciation [tuk]
used in the LOTR movies for "Took" was incorrect, and that [tUk], which
I have always said, was correct.  (The underlying Hobbitish form is
"Tuuk", but I don't think that's relevant.)

And Rosta cleverly pointed out that [tuk] would be good Scottish, and
since Pippin uses a Scottish accent, that pron. is appropriate for him,
and by extension for others as well.

--
You let them out again, Old Man Willow!                 John Cowan
What you be a-thinking of?  You should not be waking!   jcowan@reutershealth.com
Eat earth!  Dig deep!  Drink water!  Go to sleep!       www.reutershealth.com
Bombadil is talking.                                    www.ccil.org/~cowan

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