spelling that exclamation of disgust

[Dennis R. Preston]

>Don't forget the considerable fronting of the last vocalic element,
>particualarly noticable in the group under discussion. Makes the
>spelling all that much harder.

I confess not to understand the phoneme part of this comment.

dInIs

>The NY Times today in an article on junior high students said that the
>coolest boys do not do anything that could be considered girlish,
>like say "eyew"--
>is this the way we want to spell that?  And anyway, who gets to choose?  Some
>editor at the NY Times? Maybe along with the WOTY announcements, this year the
>ADS should come out with an official recommendation for this expression.   I
>think I might favor something more like ee-yoo, to make it clearer what the
>onset is.   And by the way--is this a new phoneme for Americans? The only
>example in its class?
>
>Dale Coye
>The College of NJ


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