Re: English syllable structure

On 12/6/2001, John Cowan wrote,

> Roger Mills wrote:
>> "Bwana" is a probably out of date, non-PC, pseudo-African word that I
>> remember from comic and old childrens' books (late 30s/40s) -- it meant
>> "boss, master".
> It is perfectly good Swahili in the same sense:
> bwana "master, great man, dignitary, personage, Mr., sir, lord
> (God)": (in Africa) master, boss, sir [< Arabic abuna "our father"]
Good, I remembered correctly that it was Swahili.  There was a
short-lived comic book during the late 60s of an African superhero,
B'wana Beast.

>> "sumac"
>> sp. of scrubby, weedy tree' (not the amazing Peruvian singer of years
>> back.).
>> Me:  ['sum&k].   Several Michiganites of my acquaintance: ['Sum&k].  I find
>> that odd.
> I have /S/ too, as in "sure", "sugar".
Huh?  It's *always* been /s/ when I've heard it.

--
Steve Kramer   -=oOo=-   scooter at buser dot net
Quote for the indeterminate time period:
  Snow: "It's a strange world."
  Wagner: "Let's keep it that way."
    == from "All Over the World", _Planetary_

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