For words ending in "-ity" is it ~t or ~d

[Tom Zurinskas]

To thine own ears be true, James.

I've corresponded with the "old Fogey" Ladefoged.   He said my take on a
certain issue was correct and that "the books" were wrong regarding American
accent on a certain phoneme.  I hoped to continue correspondence, but he
died.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4  truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
authorhouse.com.





>From: James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: For words ending in "-ity" is it ~t or ~d
>Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 23:16:04 -0400
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
>Subject:      Re: For words ending in "-ity" is it ~t or ~d
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >I'm saying your books are wrong.  Sorry about the heresy, but perhaps the
> >writers were natives of other languages with prevalent r-flaps.
>
>LOL! "My books" are being used to teach a lot of linguistics
>students... maybe you should call around and let universities know
>they're wrong.
>
>If one person calls you an ass, ignore him. If two people call you an
>ass, check for hoofprints. If three call you an ass, buy a saddle. If
>the leading authorities in a field disagree with you, it's not 100%
>certain that they're right, but you might want to spend a little more
>time investigating their position.
>
>Me, I'll trust Peter Ladefoged et al. (including no shortage of
>native Anglophones!) and my own ears and proprioception far sooner
>than I'll trust Tom Zurinskas. Sorry. I'm not going to bother posting
>sound files, because if you've missed hearing it so far, you'll miss
>hearing it again.
>
>As to who dictionaries are aimed for and how they aim for them, and
>who lexicographers consider authorities on such matters and so on,
>I'll leave that to the accomplished and respected lexicographers on
>this list. If in fact they find it worth their time to comment at
>all. For myself, I've said as much as there's any point in my saying.
>You haven't persuaded me, and if I haven't persuaded you, we're
>getting nowhere and may as well stop.
>
>James Harbeck.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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