diphthong

[Dennis R. Preston]

larry,

The 'dipthong' pronunciation is one of my favorite examples of
dissimilation. 'pilgrim' is too exotic and 'libary' is too socially
sensitive.

dInIs

>Erin McKean writes:
>
>>I think it can be explained by the fact that "dipthong" is one of the
>>funniest-sounding words in English. I'd bet that it would get a laugh in
>>any fourth-grade classroom in the country.
>>
>>Erin McKean
>>editor at verbatimmag.com
>
>Not to be a prescriptivist about it,  but I've always spelled it with a
>-ph- (as below) and pronounced that -ph- as an [f].  This makes it somewhat
>less funny-sounding, I fear, and also less likely to serve as a plausible
>euphemism for 'dipshit'.  Perhaps the processing of it as "dipthong" is the
>first step on the route Lynne cites below.
>
>larry
>
>
>>
>>>Spotted today on a salon.com article on the Miss Universe pageant by
>>>Cintra Wilson:
>>>
>>>It was hosted by loudmouthed diphthong Sinbad.
>>>
>>>I take it that 'diphthong' is an alliterative alternative to 'dipshit',
>>>but trying to work out the metaphor here is a bit brain-bending.
>>>
>>>Lynne
>>>
>>>Dr M Lynne Murphy
>>>Lecturer in Linguistics
>>>School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
>>>University of Sussex
>>>Brighton BN1 9QH
>>>UK
>>>
>>>phone +44-(0)1273-678844
>>>fax   +44-(0)1273-671320


Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736