wanta / wanna

[Dennis R. Preston]

See my previous post on the influence of preceding /w/ on /a/.

dInIs

>At 3:18 PM -0500 7/18/02, Mai Kuha wrote:
>>Maybe the reason we haven't discussed this is that it's uninteresting or too
>>annoying, but here goes just in case:
>>
>>In a recent Fanta ad on TV, young women dance and chant: "Wanta Fanta? Don't
>>you wanna?" I wonder:
>>
>>how long "wanta" will be spelled "wanta" (the text is shown in the ad) given
>>that "wanta" and "wanna" are homophones;
>>
>>whether it is still possible to pronounce "want a" with /t/;
>>
>>how come the manufacturers don't seem to fear losing the /t/ in "Fanta"
>>(just kidding)...
>>
>One problem, if it is a problem, is that "Fanta" for me (and I assume
>others) doesn't come close to rhyming with "wanta" with or without a
>t in the latter.  This is an orthographic rhyme but not a real one.
>Or do they pronounce it [fant@], with a back vowel?
>
>L

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Languages
740 Wells Hall A
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office - (517) 353-0740
Fax - (517) 432-2736