LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.07.08 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 08.JUL.2003 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: GaidhealdeAlba at aol.com
Subject: Language Varieties

Lowlanders,

I have found something intriguing in the way a friend of mine pronounces
the word 'Combat'. He pronounces the o as a
schwa. This interested me. I looked up the word in my dictionary, and
though I don't take my Merriam-Webster as the
final authority, because as Ron recently said, dialects are not
incorrect, it said that my friend's way of pronouncing it is
incorrect. I looked up the symbol they used in the pronunciation guide,
and they said that the IPA symbol for the sound
was the Greek lower-case alpha. I looked on an IPA site and could not
find that...

Nonetheless, I digress. He learnt the word while he was living in
California, when he was young. Before living in
California, he lived in Illinois for 2 years and 6 months. Before that,
he lived in Wisconsin for the first six months of his
life. His mother has a very thick Midwestern accent. He first learnt to
say the word on his own, not by hearing it.

So, is it just a case of him making up a pronounciation? Is it
influenced by the dialects he had been arouned? My interest
is piqued and I'm not quite qualified to answer these questions.

Beannachdan,
Uilleam Stiùbhart

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