Re: CHAT: Tacos et al.

On Wed, 12 Dec 2001, Anton Sherwood wrote:

> Michael Poxon wrote:
> > Rottweiler seems to be one of those "foreign words in transit";
> > I pronounce the disputed section of the word.../vai/... as, presumably,
> > German speakers do.
>
> Most Americans say /wai/, to answer Tristan's question.
Okay, thanks (I, and most if not all Aussies, say /wi:/)

> America has a huge German-descended population,
> and so <ei> /ai/ is very familiar from other loanwords.
> (Yet <oe> and <eu> generally become /o:/ and /ju:/.)
Yes, well /o:/ would be the closest equivalent of the vowel <oe> stands
for in American, wouldn't it? (Personally, I borrow that vowel as /3:\/,
but that's by no means standard.) And /y/ is generally Anglicised as /ju:/
unless it's spelt <y>, isn't it? (cf. all those French loan words, which
is about the only reason I can see for a `long U' to be pronounced /ju:/.
Although I could be wrong and don't feel hesitant to correct me ;) )

> > Something else that grates is Brits referring to Volkswagens as
> > /volksw(ae)g@n/!
>
> You don't mind when Americans say it?
Definately /vQlksw{g@n/ Down Under, no matter what the Americans say.

> > On the other hand, I do recognise that this is a natural part of
> > linguistic change, just like Rothschild is never "correctly" read
> > as "Roth-schild" (red shield) but instead as "Roth's-Child" and
> > pronounced accordingly. Any other examples out there?
>
> Any word that was imported with its foreign (or
> conventionally-romanised) spelling.
Not exactly... simple words that come with an /a/, /a:/, /A/ or /A:/
aren't that horrible mutilated when you consider our phonology.

> Nicaragua and Anguilla with /gju@/ (in certain parts of the Old
> World); karaoke /kerioki/ ...
Australia isn't the Old World, is it? :) And `karaoke' is generally
rendered as /k{ri8uki/ here.

> Almost makes me wish for the return of illiteracy.
Sometimes I feel the very same.

Tristan.

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