Re: Poem in Fynetik Inglix

jlk ad tok:
>> I learned
>> something, balm has a silent l.
>Nicole pa tok:
>I noticed this in John's post too - I distinctly say /balm/, as well as
>/kalm/ and /kwalm/ and /alms/, is this abnormal?  I *am* a native
>speaker, but maybe I just have problems - are you a native speaker
>Jerry?
Yes, it's truly my mother tongue, my mother's people left England around
1634 and my dad's left Germany circa 1848. Still when I looked up calm
in the Webster's my daughter gave me inscribed, "For long hours of loving
dispute", I found no l in calm in the pronunciation guide. So it looks
like John has it right as usual. Go figure. /kalm/ I say if becalmed
sailing but I would say "the water is /kam/", no l, or at most a vestigal
one. Qualms gets the l from me, I'm not really sure about /alms/.

I was just as pleased as you to find that our translations of Roland's
poem matched. I'm not worried that he will Balkanize English, if
anything he could create a soundmirror for dialect and for artists.


Jerry