[f] for [T] (long ago was: Chinese Dialect Question)

Mark J. Reed scripsit:

> Really?  So "path" is [paf] in adult speech?   That sounds so much like
> a child's error to me that I have trouble imagining it as a dialectical
> variant.
This feature is also common in AAVE.  At my university there was a mathematics
professor whose speech was indistinguishable from his white colleagues
except for this one feature -- he called his subject [m&f].
Though I didn't have the temerity to ask him, it seemed to me that he
was retaining this feature as a matter of group solidarity.

This also leads to hyper-correction: many southerners pronounce "trough" as
[tr\OT] instead of historical [tr\of], since the spelling gives no clue.

--
John Cowan
        jcowan@reutershealth.com
                I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin

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