Don't touch my phonemes (PS)

[Jim Rader]

Local pronunciations of street names and other toponyms in the
U.S. are interesting, but probably not very revelatory of general
educated pronunciation of such names in their appropriate context.
 In the working-class neighborhood where I grew up in Chicago,
Goethe in Goethe St. (or Ave.?) was pronounced GAY-thee
(voiceless <th>) and Mozart in Mozart St. with a voiced /z/--these
despite the fact that older residents, such as my grandmother, had
spoken and even read German as children--though their reading did
not extend much beyond Luther's catechism and the high culture of
classical music and poetry was quite outside their ken.

Jim Rader

> Goethe Street in St. Louis is locally pronounced 'GOthE' rhyming with
> 'both he'.  The author is usually 'GURt@', with the 'r' very slight.

[ moderator snip ]

> --
> Jim White