....the lion

[Beverly Flanigan]

Maybe I missed something:  Were the NPR people really talking rhymes or
games, or was the name used seriously??

At 02:43 PM 12/30/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Beverly writes:
>
>>Schwa insertion is very normal and generally unnoticed by speakers.  Some
>>may monitor themselves and "correct" the pronunciation in certain
>>circumstances, but pronunciation is usually so deeply ingrained it's not a
>>big deal to the speaker--if a hearer raises eyebrows (as Mark did) or
>>repeats the word, maybe the user would change it, but probably not.  That's
>>why I was wondering who used the form, and whether there was a pause or
>>other reaction on the part of the hearer.
>>
>>It's most definitely not "substandard" or "illiterate"; it represents a
>>normal phonological process, much like its opposite, elision, as in
>>"s'pose" or "gonna."
>
>Well, yes to all the above, BUT there's something more going on if
>"Androcles" is pronounced so as to rhyme (as we've been saying) with
>"broccolis".  There's also stress shift, suggesting that (unlike
>schwa insertion in clusters like those in "fil[uh]m" or
>"jewel[uh]ry", for example) this is in fact the result of someone
>reading a word/name they've never actually heard pronounced rather
>than a phonological process per se.
>
>>
>>At 12:09 PM 12/30/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>>>How would you characterize this on a scale of usage, stsndard or
>>>substandard or informal or illiterate (a category I suggest for the
>>>speech of people who are not familiar with the icons of educated folk
>>>in a culture)?
>>>
>>>Happy New Year and best wishes,
>>>Dave
>>>
>>>Barnhart at highlands.com