Hallucinating distinctions (was New Jersey Dialects)

[Dennis R. Preston]

I still suspect that what the student is talking about is a
pronunciation  of 'thanks' in which the nasalization of the vowel is
so strong that no separate velar nasal segment is perceived (or
'there'). To use the notation offered so far

/th anas k s/

where /anas/ = nasalized vocalic segment.

dInIs

NB: That's the pronunciation I get when my nose is stopped up.

>bethany sez
>>>>
>I have a student who swears that she pronounces "thanks" as "thanxs" -
>analogous to "axed" for "asked"
>- so far, I have not persuaded her that she does not. (She does not.)
><<<
>
>i can't make sense of '"thanxs" analogous to "axed"':
>
>         asked   ae s k t
>         axed    ae k s t        -- /ks/ vs. /sk/
>
>         thanks  th a ng k s
>         thanxs  th a ng k s s   -- long /s:/??
>                 th a ng x s     -- velar fricative ????
>
>what do you mean, bethany?
>
>(no i'm not emulating arnold. my tendinitis is hurting my arm and i don't
>have the s-r software running for this one note so i'm economizing on
>shift-key strokes)
>
>mark by hand


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu