Labov

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:58 PM -0400 3/31/09, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>This has alwas seemed most unnatural to me. I've always assumed that the -ov
>is a Slavic ending, and as such it would rhyme more with with "Dog" than
>"stove." tNo one would pronounce "Romanov" or "Chekov" and rhyme the
>last syllable
>  rhyme with "hove" or the past tense of "dive."

Not sure that's a fair comparison, since I've always heard "Romanov"
and "Chekhov" pronounced with initial stress and "Labov" with final
stress.  But I've always said "Labov" with either an open {O] or a
wedge/schwa (as in "love") rather than to rhyme unappetizingly with
"Rove" and "mauve".   But it is his name, after all.

LH

>
>>  At 12:43 PM -0500 3/31/09, Matthew Gordon wrote:
>>  >I wanted to add a couple of points to what others have responded:
>>  >
>>  >1. The man's name is Labov, and he pronounces it /l at bov/ (i.e. to rhyme
>>  with
>>  >'stove').
>>
>
>
>
>
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