basque/Basque/bask

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:51 PM +0100 4/17/02, Lynne Murphy wrote:
>--On Wednesday, April 17, 2002 10:50 am -0400 Benjamin Fortson
><fortson at FAS.HARVARD.EDU> wrote:
>
>>I've never heard Basque pronounced with a back vowel, myself. I've always
>>pronounced it as [baesk], as has every linguist and non-linguist that I've
>>ever heard say it...
>
>I'm starting to think I'm crazy then, although the Basque scholar here and
>I are both from Western NY.  Perhaps it's local to that area?
>
>Lynne

In the linguistics department of the University of Rochester (not far
from your bailiwick, Lynne) between 1963 and 1966, it was always
pronounced [baesk].  (I wrote a couple of papers on it, and remember
giving one orally, and I'm quite sure I would have remembered a back
vowel if I'd heard one.)  I think it's the -sk cluster that does it;
in other environments, I do the "foreign" or hyperforeign back vowel
even when (as in "Sadd/a/m") I've heard that the front one would be
closer to the target.  I hope I'm not committed to saying you should
be committed...

larry