taking poll on pronunciation

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Richard Robin wrote:

> Specialists in English phonology will correct me, but isn't the
> English default stress on a four-syllable noun composed of open
> syllables on the penultimate? As in
> 
> Manitoba
> Colorado
> propaganda
> panorama
> emphysema
> plus the assigned place of stress for most place names of native
> American origin, regardless of language of origin.

You may be right, but none of your examples qualify as CV.CV.CV.CV. And 
even when they could, historical vowel "shortness" tends to cause a 
following C to move to the previous syllable. Thus, I would syllabify:
	Màn.i.tó.ba   -- CVC. V .CV .CV ("short a" attracts C)
	Còl.o.rá.do   -- CVC. V .CV .CV ("short o" attracts C)
	pròp.a.gán.da -- CVC. V .CVC.CV ("short o" attracts C)
	èm.phy.sé.ma  --  VC.CV .CV .CV (/mf/ must be split)

> Exceptions to this tendency, like amygdala and Kalamazoo, *sound**
> *like exceptions. So Sharapóva and Borodíno obey that rule.

Once again, a.mýg.da.la (antepenultimate stress from Greek) is not 
CV.CV.CV.CV, and Kàl.a.ma.zóo usually wouldn't be. Your claim, in the 
absence of supporting evidence, remains unproven.

> On the other hand, Americans have always had both stress and vowel
> problems with Russian names containing ё, probably, as Hugh McLean
> said, because of the transliteration, but also no doubt because
> word-final stress in nouns (as in -ёв last names) is so rare in
> English. So Khrúshchev was Khrushchóv only on the lips of President
> Kennedy and NBC's Chet Huntley. Gorbachev defaulted to initial
> stress, although a few talking heads insisted on Gorbáchev.

Another problem here, to which I alluded in a previous posting, is that 
closed syllables tend to attract stress. Since English cannot begin a 
syllable with /šč/ (/ʃʧ/), we must syllabify Khrush.chov, and that 
complex first syllable, besides being initial and penultimate, will also 
attract stress by dint of its complexity.

I personally have /never/ heard Gorbáchev, only Górbachov and Gorbachóv 
and the occasional Górbachev. Was that a typo?

> Finally, I would add that the hardest vocabulary item for my own
> beginning students is the last name of our program's course
> coordinator, Shatalina, which students insist on rhyming with
> Catalina, even well into middle of first year.
> 
> So how did Anna Karenina survive with her name intact?

Only repetition can account for it. If we hear something often enough, 
it becomes normal, no matter how weird it was to begin with. When I 
first moved to Ohio back in the late 1970s, I encountered people using 
the "needs done" construction (e.g., "the floor needs swept") for the 
first time in my life and thought it not only ungrammatical, but foreign 
and so defective as to reflect the speaker's illiteracy or incompetence 
(yes, the reaction was that strong). After 15 years in Columbus, I got 
used to it and even occasionally used it myself, to the consternation of 
my Eastern relatives and friends, who thought I had contracted some 
disease and advised me to seek professional help.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------