wanta / wanna

[Alice Faber]

Laurence Horn said:
>At 3:18 PM -0500 7/18/02, Mai Kuha wrote:
>>Maybe the reason we haven't discussed this is that it's uninteresting or too
>>annoying, but here goes just in case:
>>
>>In a recent Fanta ad on TV, young women dance and chant: "Wanta Fanta? Don't
>>you wanna?" I wonder:
>>
>>how long "wanta" will be spelled "wanta" (the text is shown in the ad) given
>>that "wanta" and "wanna" are homophones;
>>
>>whether it is still possible to pronounce "want a" with /t/;
>>
>>how come the manufacturers don't seem to fear losing the /t/ in "Fanta"
>>(just kidding)...
>>
>One problem, if it is a problem, is that "Fanta" for me (and I assume
>others) doesn't come close to rhyming with "wanta" with or without a
>t in the latter.  This is an orthographic rhyme but not a real one.
>Or do they pronounce it [fant@], with a back vowel?
>

Only in a Monty Python routine. And if they didn't, they should've.

Alice

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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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