Re: English syllable structure

Nik Taylor wrote:


>Tristan Alexander McLeay wrote:
>> Erm? I didn't realise there was any other pronunciation (although when I
>> was younger, I used to pronounce it /nIkj@"rA:gju@/
>
>I've *only* ever heard /'nIk@"rAgw@/ or /nikA'*AgwA/ (* = tap), the
>second being an approximation of the original Spanish pronunciation.
And, obviously, the first when speaking English, the second when speaking
Spanish.   SNL's Weekend Update did a nice sketch on this, back in the 80s
when we were doing our thing down there--- the newscast in general was in
Std. Amer. accent, but when they came to a Spanish word, great facial
contortions and pseudo-Hispanic body language to produce an exaggeratedly
correct pronunciation.
>
>And on Puerto Rico, am I the only one here who uses and hears /pw/
>there?
No.  But of course I'm biased; Spanish is my first love.