11.186, Qs: "st"/"sp" sound shift, Feminine names

The LINGUIST Network linguist at linguistlist.org
Sat Jan 29 05:55:07 UTC 2000


LINGUIST List:  Vol-11-186. Sat Jan 29 2000. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 11.186, Qs: "st"/"sp" sound shift, Feminine names

Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>
            Andrew Carnie: U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Andrew Carnie: U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Associate Editors:  Martin Jacobsen <marty at linguistlist.org>
                    Ljuba Veselinova <ljuba at linguistlist.org>
		    Scott Fults <scott at linguistlist.org>
		    Jody Huellmantel <jody at linguistlist.org>
		    Karen Milligan <karen at linguistlist.org>

Assistant Editors:  Lydia Grebenyova <lydia at linguistlist.org>
		    Naomi Ogasawara <naomi at linguistlist.org>
		    James Yuells <james at linguistlist.org>

Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
                      Sudheendra Adiga <sudhi at linguistlist.org>
                      Qian Liao <qian at linguistlist.org>

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/


Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jody at linguistlist.org>
 ==========================================================================

We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually
best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is
then  strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list.   This policy was
instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we
would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Mon, 28 Jan 1980 19:52:27 -0800
From:  Tom Fitzsimmons <tjfitz at iol.ie>
Subject:  Is there a new "st" and "sp" sound in American English?

2)
Date:  Thu, 27 Jan 2000 01:42:18 GMT
From:  "Kentaro Toyama" <ktfemsuf at hotmail.com>
Subject:  Feminine names ending in "-a"

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Mon, 28 Jan 1980 19:52:27 -0800
From:  Tom Fitzsimmons <tjfitz at iol.ie>
Subject:  Is there a new "st" and "sp" sound in American English?

I have noticed in the past few years that more and more Americans are
prounouncing "st" and "sp" the way a German would pronounce it:  that
is, "sht" or "shp".  Has anyone else heard this shift, if it is a shift?

Tom Fitzsimmons.


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 27 Jan 2000 01:42:18 GMT
From:  "Kentaro Toyama" <ktfemsuf at hotmail.com>
Subject:  Feminine names ending in "-a"


Does anyone know of any studies done on the frequency of female names
ending in "-a"?

Personal observation has led me to believe that there is a universal
tendency for female names to end in "-a".  This is easily confirmed
for names in English or any of the Romance languages: The 1990 US
census ( http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names ) shows that a full 41% of
female names end in "-a" (contributing to 31% of the female
population) versus 1% and 0.6% for male names (of which, many appear
to be female names perhaps adopted by transgender men).

I believe that this trend might also hold for other languages, though
perhaps to a lesser degree.

I am also interested in any reasonable explanations for this
phenomenon -- the most obvious is that languages with noun genders
frequently use "-a" to indicate feminine nouns, but this only begs the
question for why THAT might be so.

Any leads would be greatly appreciated!

Kentaro Toyama

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-11-186



More information about the LINGUIST mailing list