opportYOUnity

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Well, literally this would only be true of, say, a high-pitched fart that only a dog could hear.

Maybe what BB meant to say is that speakers vary unknowingly between sounds (such as [a] and "open o") without realizing it. In the language of linguistics, they are allophones in free variation (a concept that Tom Zurinskas  apparently does not understand despite years of exposure on ads-l, leading him to insult gratuitouslyt people who have a different phonemic system from his own).
------Original Message------
From: Benjamin Barrett
Sender: ADS-L
To: ADS-L
ReplyTo: ADS-L
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] opportYOUnity
Sent: Dec 23, 2008 11:05 PM

Native speakers are known to produce differences they cannot hear, but
all three (clause included) sound identical to me. BB

On Dec 23, 2008, at 7:59 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> Disregarding that the correct pronunciation of "Claus" is 'klows"
> ("ow" as in "ouch", and "s" not "z"), I think I pronounce "Claus" and
> "claws" differently -- more "w" in "claws".  For me, "Claus" is like
> "clause".
>
> Or am I missing the fact that Ben is joshing?  (What does "klahz"
> rhyme with?)
>
> Joel
>
> At 12/23/2008 10:27 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> But the *correct* pronunciation of Claus and claws is indeed the
>> same:
>> klahz; just ask anyone in my family. Those who would clutter the
>> English language by adding superfluous vowels are truly demonic
>> because doing so will lead to children being completely unable to
>> figure out how to read. BB
>>
>> On Dec 23, 2008, at 7:19 PM, Scot LaFaive wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>> I'm beginning to *thing* the "awe-droppers" have some kind of
>>>> speech
>>> impediment to mispronounce Santa Claus.
>>>
>>> Much like the language impairment involved in the dropping of [ng]
>>> for [k]
>>> by some writers.
>>>
>>> Scot
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 12/23/08, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> A Bank of America commercial puts "you" in "opportYOUnity".
>>>> Interesting.
>>>>
>>>> Also, I heard today somewhere on TV - Santa Clahz (~klaaz).  Yes,
>>>> is there
>>>> no respect by these infernal "awe-droppers".  Unfortunately m-w.com
>>>> is
>>>> infected.  The word "Claus" should be spoken the same as claws.
>>>> But in
>>>> m-w.com "claws" ~klauz spoken clahs ~klaaz even though the
>>>> phonetics show
>>>> an o with a dot over it (~au in truespel) which should be ~Klauz.
>>>>
>>>> I'm beginning to thing the "awe-droppers" have some kind of speech
>>>> impediment to mispronounce Santa Claus.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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


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