vl cluster spotting

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:53 PM +0000 11/10/07, ronbutters at aol.com wrote:
>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"?

Could be, but are those a different subset of speakers from those who
say "srimp" rather than "shrimp"?

>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").

I'd suspect a frequency effect here--"alcohol" is a lot more frequent
than the other items, and so a lot more likely to simplify.

LH

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