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<DIV>On 31 Aug 2005, at 20:56, <A href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com">lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com</A> wrote:</DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Back in the severites I met a learned professor of English language who was</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">convinced he could hear a pronunciation difference between "finish" and</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">"Finnish" in RP. Neither I nor A.C. Gimson (who was present, and far better</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">qualified than me to make this judgement) could hear any difference in the</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">pronunciation of these two words in various contexts. He was unconvinced.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">We wanted to get him into a speech lab and record him saying things like</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">"I think the Finnish team will finish in the top three", for further</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">analysis.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Thanks Patrick for this story. I don't think though that it's quite so easy to dismiss this guy's claim out of hand.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><SPAN class="Apple-style-span">I tried your experiment today and discovered that there <I>is</I> a difference between the pronunciation of "Finnish" and "finish" in the sentence you offer. The former has more emphasis on the first syllable, which causes the /i/ to be slightly raised beyond the /i/ in the latter. Then I tried another sentence: "To finish in the second half would cause the Finnish team grief". Again a difference, though this time reversed (ie "finish" pronounced with raised /i/). Another test: "To finish last would cause the Finnish team grief": no difference. It seems to be in the prosodics that the words are sometimes pronounced differently. And, of course, context is all.</SPAN></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>(Finnish. It's the absolute end! Suomi. Varmasti on loppu!)<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Si<BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>---</DIV><DIV>Körnerstraße 1, 01407 Leipzig, Germany</DIV><DIV>cell: 0049 (0)1627 325868</DIV><DIV><A href="http://www.qamutiik.net">http://www.qamutiik.net</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR><DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV>
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