Was "Dip-thong" but now I'm hijacking it!

[Benjamin Barrett]

Dictionary syllable division is based on practices established by printers
and does not follow any of the natural laws of language.

Benjamin Barrett
gogaku at ix.netcom.com

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf Of
Aaron E. Drews
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 11:32
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Was "Dip-thong" but now I'm hijacking it!


on 19/5/00 5:54 PM, Derrick Chapman wrote:

> "The (pronunciation) syllable division is before the -th-, but the
etymology
> has di- + phthong 'sound'.  IRudy"
>
> You know, ever since I had trouble dividing words into syllables in the
> first grade, I've been aware of the fact that the dictionary is very often
> wrong.  Maybe the whole premise of syllable division of words is flawed.

I would disagree.  Trying to divide spoken syllables based on spelling - or
even some dictionary listings - is flawed.  But syllable division in the
spoken language, however, is very real and very regular across dialects and
languages.