On 12/11/05, Alex Fink <a4pq1injbok_0@...> wrote:
> This isn't a distinction between old /ew/ and 'long u' in any dialect I know
> of. It's just loss of the [j] after coronals, and it applies to both
> spellings of [ju(:)]:
>
> |cute| [kjut], |lute| [lut]
> |pew| [pju], |new| [nu]
Duh. Should have examined more examples. Thanks for the
clarification; I clearly just hadn't thought about it much.
> I seem to recall that even this [ju(:)] (exceptions aside) is indeed derived
> from ME /eu/ or /iu/, and the spelling |u| is motivated by French |u| = [y].
Similar to John's ideolect, then:
> My non-native dialect still keeps those two distinct (the former is /ju:/ or
> /u:/ while the latter is /jy/ or /y:/), [...]
To which Jean-François replied:
> What? Are there really dialects of English with a high front rounded vowel? Where? And which
> words are concerned?
AFAIK [y] does not occur in any native English dialects, but it does
appear in non-native ideolects. IME it usually shows up in place of
[ju] among some speakers who have [y] in their native lang. I guess
it's a sort of vocalic palatalization effect?
--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>