vl cluster spotting

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

I suppose the psycholinguistic constraints on "foreign" clusters & such have already been figured out by clever psychologists? Perhaps "vlog" sounds like an English word in a way that "Vladivostok" does not, so it is hard to believe that the initial "vl" cluster is happening in "vlog." And "tse-tse" sounds like "teensy" Do some people never master "Schlitz" because it sounds so much like "slits"?

There are I think unique words with respect to initial CC: "thew," for example, which people seem to have no trouble with.

I've noticed, b y the way, that assimilation is common in "alcohol" --> "a'cohol" (not sure if the same people say "A'catraz" or "a'cemy" (or "A' Capone").
------Original Message------
From: Benjamin Barrett
Sender: ADS-L
To: ADS-L
ReplyTo: ADS-L
Sent: Nov 10, 2007 3:40 AM
Subject: [ADS-L] vl cluster spotting

A friend of mine pronounced "vlog" yesterday (Friday) using a "vl"
cluster. Although there are a few names, mainly Vlad/Vladimir, I don't
see any other words starting with vl- in my AHD3. It took me a couple of
seconds to figure out what "vlog" meant (video blog), and then another
couple for the cluster to register.

Benjamin Barrett
a cyberbreath for language life
livinglanguages.wordpress.com (soon to be back online)

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