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Re: French

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Friday, January 17, 2003, 11:59
Tristan scripsit:

> On the subject of French and lieutenant, where'd the /f/ come from in > the Commonwealth pronunciation of it?
It's a mystery, though the front rounded vowel may have suggested a fricative to anglophones. I wonder how old this distinction is? "Did lootenants and leftenants face one another at [the American Revolution battle of] Yorktown?" Peter Jennings is the Canadian-born anchor of a major U.S. television news program: supposedly, his prompter spells this word "lootenant" so as to cue him to (mis)pronounce it. Ghu forbid the American people should hear a pronunciation on TV that they don't understand instantly. -- Said Agatha Christie / To E. Philips Oppenheim John Cowan "Who is this Hemingway? / Who is this Proust? jcowan@reutershealth.com Who is this Vladimir / Whatchamacallum, http://www.reutershealth.com This neopostrealist / Rabble?" she groused. http://www.ccil.org/cowan --author unknown to me; any suggestions?

Replies

Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>
michael poxon <m.poxon@...>