pizza (was: nucular and Latino)

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:14 PM -0500 11/19/01, Mark.Mandel at LHSL.COM wrote:
>Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>
>>>>>>
>Maybe it's just that the American pronunciation of "pizza" is already
>taken in Britain--for the proper name conventionally spelled "Peter".
><<<<<
>
>Are you telling us that r-less Brits can't distinguish ['pits@] from
>['pi:t@]?
>

I'm saying (at least) that many r-less Brits pronounce "Peter" with
post-affrication in such a way that it sounds to ME as though they
were saying "pizza".  And the observation isn't original with me; I
recall someone British (perhaps "Pizza" Trudgill) remarking on an
American who queried him about his being named for snack food.  Not
every Britisher pronounces "Peter" as simply ['pi:t@].

larry