Re: USAGE: Voiced/voiceless stops in English, was: Re: Pronouncing Tokana...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU]On
> Behalf Of And Rosta
> Sent: Friday, February 4, 2000 2:15 PM
> To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Subject: USAGE: RE: Voiced/voiceless stops in English, was: Re:
> Pronouncing Tokana...
> Possibly I have mischaracterized the constraint, and it is more like t > r
> following a lax vowel, but [@r\O:l] sounds totally out to me. I suspect,
> furthermore, that t > r is lexically conditioned, i.e. its
> applicability is
> contingent on the lexical identity of the word containing the /t/. In this
> respect it is similar to the "r > z / lax V __ weak V (sonorant) #" rule,
> which in most of England applies only to first names (Sharon > Shaz etc.),
> but in certain sociolects on the west Lancashire coast extends more widely
> through the lexicon (sorry > soz, borrow > boz, etc.).
Wow, interesting. I've found out that Bazza is a common nickname for Barry,
but never knew it extended to any other names. Are soz, boz, etc. slang?

> This last, btw, is
> one of my favourite phonological rules, in that it is hard to find any
> phonological motivation for it at all; it is a mere phonological caprice.
I would personally expect it to go the other way, as noted in many
languages, but are examples of that happening too, as in some forms of
French, as in chaise < chaire. But it does seem to me like [z] takes less
effort than a trilled [r] to produce, so maybe that's why, in the French
case at least.


Eric Christopherson / *Aiworegs Ghristobhorosyo suHnus
raccoon@elknet.net