'Texes' as plural of 'text (message)'

[Damien Hall]

We've been hearing for a while about the cluster simplification at the end of the word 'text', which has resulted in the following common pronunciations:

- [tEks] for 'text'

- [tEkst] for 'texted' (presumably from the verb [tEks] + the past-tense ending [-t], with expected devoicing following a voiceless consonant, but of course therefore homonymous with the non-cluster-reduced word 'text')

However, this morning I heard the new-to-me form [tEksIz] for the plural noun 'texts'.  Again, this is the regular outcome of noun [tEks] + plural [-Iz].  Surely this has been around for a bit (logically, it might have been);  have others heard it?  The speaker was white, 30-something, looking fairly preppy, BrE.  Apologies if this is research that's already been done.

The subject of discussion was etiquette and modern terms of address, sparked by a directive from the company which runs buses in Manchester, UK, that its drivers must not call female passengers 'Babe', after one complained.  The context is that 'Babe' is seen as affectionate and not condescending by many speakers of Manchester English, though there is a significant minority who do not like it;  they did a vox pop, where opinions were divided approximately like this.

Damien

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Damien Hall

University of Kent (UK / Royaume-Uni)
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, 'Towards a New Linguistic Atlas of France'
Projet de recherche: 'Vers un Nouvel Atlas Linguistique de la France'

English Language and Linguistics, School of European Culture and Languages
Section de Langue et Linguistique Anglaises, Faculté de la Culture et des Langues Européennes

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