free variation in pronunciation

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Tuesday, April 3, 2001 9:39 am +0800 Laurence Horn
<laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:

> At 8:54 AM -0400 4/3/01, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>> Lynne hits the nail on the head here. I take the two forms - two
>> meanings (in the broad sense) to be a pretty good general account, so
>> much so that I would want to examine claims to the contrary (and free
>> variation is always such a claim) very carefully.
>
> Does anyone have an early cite on who said this first?


Are you looking for the phrasing or the sentiment?  The sentiment goes back
into the 19th c. at least--Breal has it, right?  But I'm even tempted to
think that Aristotle said something along these lines.  I haven't tried to
trace it, though.

Thanks for the envelope example Larry and Beverly.

And Dennis is so right about all he's said that I will be extra careful in
how I phrase this discussion...

Lynne

M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
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