[Ads-l] Heard on Unsolved Mysteries

[W Brewer]

It's the old story of H vs. L, literary vs. colloquial, elegantese vs.
vulgar:  back vowel vs. front vowel. "Why they changed it I can't say,
people just liked it better that way." Language fashion, as Yakov Malkiel
would say.

On Sat, Aug 5, 2017 at 7:55 PM, Michael Everson <everson at evertype.com>
wrote:

> On 4 Aug 2017, at 19:03, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I have “fall-k’n” but that’s a learned pronunciation.  I grew up saying
> /falk at n/ as in “balcon(y)” but at some point someone convinced me (in
> print or in person) that people who knew more about falconry than I do
> (which is almost everyone) all say /fOlk at n/ as in “fall-k’n”.
>
> The “fall-k’n” pronunciation is actually more authentic. Derivation: ME
> faucon. The -l- was added in the 15th century in deference to the Latin
> falco < falx ‘sickle’ (the claws, I expect).
>
> British English given in Apple OED as /ˈfɔː(l)k(ə)n, ˈfɒlk(ə)n/
>
> American English given in Apple OED as /ˈfælkən, ˈfɔlkən/
>
> Michael Everson
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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