Pol otveta

[Georges Adassovsky]

Dear phonologists!

I am transmitting the following criticism to my answer, that was directed
to my personal address from Tver State University. (subject: pol komnaty +
pol-limona, I appreciate the humor)
Yurij wrote :
1) >L reduce only  in teritirial dialects, in lit. lang there is no rreduce 'L'.
2)>Ruls is, see Avanesov "Russkoje literaturnoje proiznos^enije"  and other
works.

I agree with the two points (I said : "Some speakers may also").
1) The reduced "l" is used  in eastern former Soviet Union (Pol'skij "l").
Some speakers may use a whole "l" in "pol komnaty", and reduce the "l" in
"polkomnaty", that is when "l" and "k" are tied. It is certainly often the
case with "pol-litra" (or pol-limona).
2) Of course there are rules and excellent books. I suppose Loren A.
Billings, who asked the question, has read these books, but she is
interested on the way people speak.

Edward Dumanis wrote :
>No, No, No.
>Pol komnaty byl horosho vymyt.
>Pol komnaty bylo zastavleno veshchami.
>
>No phonetic difference whatsoever!

I don't agree.
At first lets remark that when "pol" means "half", it is orthographically
tied with the following word : "polkomnaty". If the first letter of this
word is  "l" or a voyel, there is a "-" : pol-litra vodki.
So, "pol komnaty" are two words, with two stresses, "l" and "k" are not
tied, while "polkomnaty" is one word, with one stress, and "lk" tied.
Pol(half) is a proclitic.
The problem of reducing the "l" is secondary, and, as said Yurij, territorial..

There are some strange facts with "pol" : polkomnaty is neutral (polkomnaty
bylo...), while polovina as well as komnata are feminine. Stranno, no tak.
If it is preceded by an adjective, it becomes plural: "tselye polkomnaty
byli".

Read you,

Georges Adassovsky
E-Mail : Gadassov at mail.pf
S-Mail : B.P. 380330 Tamanu, 98718 Punaauia, French Polynesia.
Tel 689 58 38 40 home, 689 58 37 37 office (GMT - 12)