WHEEL.bair.uh? (was "wheel barrels?")

[Dennis R. Preston]

Tom is  wrong. As I showed in my previous post, after 'barrel' and
'barrow' fall together, there is absolutely nothing to keep one from
being heard as the other (with the exception of the lexical frequency
and familiarity facts larry has touched on and which I happily
concede).

On the second point, I believe I showed this "lapse" (sigh!) specifically.

dInIs



>1. I don't think ease of pronunciation has anything to do with the
>barrow/barrel confusion; it may have more to do with how the words are heard
>spoken. Also, whereas "barrel" is heard as "barrow" by me and lots of
>English users from my linguistic background (no questions allowed about this
>murky issue please!) the reverse doesn't seem possible, i.e, "barrow" is not
>heard as "barrel."
>
>2. Incidentally, the variant pronunciation of "barrow" as (BAIR.uh, in my
>transcription) given in dictionaries compiled in the mid-1900's (Kenyon &
>Knott, 1953, probably influenced by Webster's Third, 1961) -- how common is
>it in current North American English? Does everyone say a compound word such
>as "wheel barrow" as (WHEEL.bair.oh) all the time or, esp. in rapid
>conversational style, lapse into (WHEEL.bair.uh)?
>
>TOM
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 11:17 AM
>Subject: Re: wheel barrels?
>
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: wheel barrels?
>>  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-----
>>
>>  At 10:41 AM -0400 8/11/04, Thomas Paikeday wrote:
>>  >Bethany,
>>  >
>>  >FWIW, here is my explanation of why you hear "wheel barrow" as "wheel
>>  >barrel":
>>  >
>>  >The "l" sound in that position is rounded, so is "w". The "-ow"/"-el"
>>  >confusion, I believe, is borne out in similar phonetic contexts including
>>  >"-al", "-il", "-ol", -"ul", and "-yl" if someone will supply examples in
>>  >support of or against this claim by a non-phonetician.
>>  >
>>  >TOM PAIKEDAY
>>  >www.paikeday.net
>>
>>  Tom, I'm not sure I buy this, however persuasive the phonetic
>argumentation.
>>
>>  My wife purchased a wheelbarrow earlier this summer and since then
>>  has referred to it consistently as a wheelbarrel.  (This surprised me
>>  because she's from Greenwich, CT and doesn't have all that many
>>  "folk" pronunciations in her dialect.)  I just checked and she
>>  confirmed that she (like others who have commented) would always
>>  *spell* it as "wheelbarrow" but usually *pronounces* it as
>>  wheelbarrel.  She claims (essentially like Tom) that it's "easier to
>>  say" as 'barrel", but when I grilled her on whether she'd say "bow
>>  and arrel" because it's easier than saying "bow and arrow", she
>>  acknowledged she'd be extremely unlikely to do so.  So I think the
>>  folk etymological link with "barrel" is crucial in the former case,
>>  whatever the phonetic motivation.
>>
>>  Larry


--
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