Runglish

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/13/2007 09:17 AM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>Betcha can't get four. Even English speakers have /str/ (although
>admittedly not /mst/).

The OED tells me English has many /mst/ -- e.g. circumstance.  And
how about 5?  arm-strong.

And -- at least in transliteration -- doesn't Russian have
/shch/?  (Which probably doesn't count as four consonants phonetically.)

When I attempted to audit an elementary Russian course in graduate
school, one of the first pronunciation exercises included (something
like) v'Krimu (in the Crimea?).  I gave up.

Joel

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