Putin

[Donald M. Lance]

Obviously semantics does not override phonetics here.  Ron, your observation speaks to
generative models of speech production.  The native (Germanic) stress rules for English
place the stress on the first syllable when the second (and last) one is weak.  The
alternative pronunciation "PYU-t'n" doesn't seem to be available in American phonology
nowadays.  What do the British do with this name?  Aside from unsavory semantics, this
name raises some interesting questions for phonological theory.
DMLance

RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:

> .......--and I am reminded now that LENIN and STALIN are both normally
> pronounced in American English with a schwa in the second syullable. Maybe
> that is the model. But doesn't semantics override phonetics in situations
> like this?
>
> In a message dated 8/6/2000 8:42:14 AM, t.paikeday at SYMPATICO.CA writes:
>
> << One of many possible reasons, it seems to me, is that (poo.TEEN) is the
>
> pronunciation of "poutine" (Cdn.Fr.) which, according to the Oxford Canadian,
>
> means "a dish of french fries topped with cheese curds and a sauce, usu.
> gravy."
>
> There is also the English speaker's tendency to retract stresses to the first
>
> syllables of words. Of course, I am being facetious, if you will forgive an
> old
>
> fart. >>