nucular and Latino

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 06:37 AM 11/14/01 -0500, you wrote:
>>How come many Hispanic and non-Hispanic native speakers of English
>>pronounce "Latino" and "Latina" as if they were Spanish words when they're
>>speaking English?
>
>Is the question why it's /la'tinou/ instead of /l&'tinou/ or /l@'tinou/?
>[I've heard all of these, I think.] [replace /ou/ with /@/ for the female
>form.]
>
>Or is a more 'English' alternative suggested, along the lines of /'l&t at nou/
>(like "domino"/"stamina") or /l@'tainou/ (like "albino"/"vagina")?
>
>[I don't think they need to mutate that far: several words -- such as
>"casino", "marina" -- are commonly pronounced with accented penult with /i/
>without seeming 'foreign'.]
>
>>I also have a question about pronouncing nuclear as if it were ...
>>"nucular." George W. Bush says nucular. Eisenhower used to say nucular.
>>How about other presidents? How common is this pronunciation?
>
>IIRC, Jimmy Carter said "nucular".
>
>It's VERY common. I've heard it MANY times from 'professionals' in the
>field of nuclear medicine. [That don't make it right.]
>
>-- Doug Wilson

It also don't make it wrong.


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm