Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

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

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Thursday, July 3, 2003, 16:53
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

Replies

John Leland <leland@...>
Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...>