vl cluster spotting

[Dennis Preston]

The /l/ in Vltava is not part of a cluster. It is
the nucleus of the first syllable. Even Slavs
can't manage a /vlt/ onset cluster.

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>Subject:      Re: vl cluster spotting
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>It will certainly become more common in a few
>weeks, after the Nov. 23 through 27 concerts of
>the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which in an
>all-Smetana program will play the complete "Ma
>Vlast".  Those of lesser musical ambition or
>knowledge will recognize its second part, Vltava
>(ah yes, another vl cluster), aka "Die
>Moldau".  Coincidentally, the flyer for this BSO
>program arrived after my posting on vl- words.
>
>And I was being a bit facetious about the
>commonness of "vlast" -- although it was in my
>vocabulary.  I may even have encountered it in
>its Russian sense of "(political) power".
>
>Joel
>
>At 11/10/2007 09:37 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>Hmm, I had never heard of the word until your posting. I find M·
>>vlast on Wikipedia, where vlast is explained as meaning fatherland.
>>It wasn't in my AHD3, which is the source I cited. I searched for
>>English pages on Google using the following:
>>
>>-"Ma vlast" vlast -Smetana
>>
>>In the top 100 hits, I found zero in an English setting when I
>>skipped music bands, song names and geographical names. I did find
>>"M· vlast (My Homeland): The Jiraneks In Canada: General History" at
>>about hit 90 or so, but no hits on the word within the three pages of
>>text in the article.
>>
>>Is it used commonly by ADS members? BB
>>
>>On Nov 10, 2007, at 5:09 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>>>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>>
>>>At 11/10/2007 02:30 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>>>Right. The interesting thing about "vlog", though, is the
>>>>potential to
>>>>become a common word. BB
>>>
>>>What, isn't "vlast" a common word?  569,000 Google hits, although
>>>many are not in English or refer to Smetana.
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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