Gene Weingarten on the pronunciation of "what"

[Wilson Gray]

Reminds me of some now-forgotten (by me, anyway) independent scholar
who discussed on line the question whether aspiration follows from
devoicing or devoicing follows from aspiration, using "what" as his
example. He concluded that devoicing follows from aspiration. Of
course, if he had used a word like "mutt," which, of course, rhymes
with "what," and devoiced the initial /m/, he would have seen that
aspiration follows from devoicing.

-Wilson

On 9/17/06, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Gene Weingarten on the pronunciation of "what"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Who is this guy?  Has he nothing better to do than to agonize over the
> pronunciation of "what"?  (And how about that aspirating the 'w' and then
> reducing it to a vowel--or whatever.)
>
> At 01:27 AM 9/17/2006, you wrote:
> >-----
> >Washington Post, September 17, 2006; Page W56
> >
> >Say What?
> >You can't be serious . . .
> >By Gene Weingarten
> >
> >I AM A "WORD PERSON." My vocabulary is extensive, my command of
> >grammar and syntax almost without error. I can accurately conjugate
> >most any verb, including "to lie," which gets pretty complex in the
> >pluperfect. I understand the difference between epistemology and
> >hermeneutics.
> >
> >And so it came as something of a surprise and shock to me the other
> >day when I learned that, at 54, I apparently do not know how to
> >pronounce the word "what."
> >-----
> >
> >Read the rest here:
> >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091301610.html
> >
> >
> >--Ben Zimmer
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
-Wilson
----
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.

--Sam Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org