in Filipino English: "glitz" for "glitch"; "presidentiable"

[Wilson Gray]

The distinction between [ts] and [tS] in identical environments is a
shibboleth of Modern Greek, evidencing a class distinction: the
classes use [ts], the masses use [tS].

I think that it was in Pei that I first came across this assertion,
back in the '50's. Its validity has since been solidly confirmed by
any number of Hellenic Harvardians.

-Wilson

On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 5:58 PM, Benjamin
Zimmer<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: in Filipino English: "glitz" for "glitch"; "presidentiable"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 5:32 PM, Mark Mandel<Mark.A.Mandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Just happened on this (http://www.batasmauricio.com/):
>>
>> -----
>> Barring any major glitz, Senator Manny Villar appears on his way to
>> becoming the next president of the Republic of the Philippines, [snip]
>
> Not a surprising confusion, given that Tagalog speakers frequently
> nativize "ch" /tS/ in foreign words as /ts/. Examples:
>
> Tag. "kotse" ('car') < Sp. "coche"
> Tag. "panutsa"/"panotsa" ('cane sugar chunk') < Sp. "panocha"
> Tag. "biskotso" ('sponge cake') < Sp. "bizcocho"
> Tag. "tsinelas" ('sandals, slippers') < Sp. "chinelas"
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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