/Erjudait/

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 2/27/2012 11:16 PM, Herb Stahlke wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Herb Stahlke<hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      /Erjudait/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here in the Midwest I've been noticing local TV newsreaders
> pronouncing "erudite" as /Erjudait/, inserting a palatal glide between
> /r/ and /u/.  I don't know if this pronunciation is found in Britain,
> but the OED gives the pronunciation /ˈɛrədaɪt/.  I don't hear the
> glide insertion in words like "rude" or "ruse," and I suspect that
> /Erjudait/ is simply hypercorrection.  It just seems odd that these
> speakers don't insert /j/ between other alveolars and /u/.
--

MW3 shows /Erj at dait/ or so first, "also" /Er at dait/. Pronunciations with
and without glides are also shown for "garrulous" and "corrugate" inter
alia.

I confess that I (a sort-of-midwestern type) would say "erudite" and
"garrulous" with glide (but not "corrugate"). I might even pronounce the
middle syllable vowel as /ju/ (instead of /j@/) in careful speech.

-- Doug Wilson

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