Error in Truespel dictionary?

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 7:43 PM, sagehen <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
>
> In "tradspel" the cluster /dsp/ is nearly unspeakable(!); an added
> /i/ would have helped.

Of all the complaints one could make, that's an odd one. My middle name is
Goodspeed (a family name), and I don't recall the /dsp/ cluster ever being
difficult for anyone. Nor, I imagine, would native speakers have much trouble
with more complex clusters like the /ldsp/ of "feldspar" or the /ndspr/ of
"handspring", since they straddle syllable boundaries in the usual fashion.


--Ben Zimmer

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