Date:    Tue, 21 Apr 1998 04:43:08 -0500
<br>From:    Mike Salovesh <t20mxs1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CORN.CSO.NIU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: pron question
<br>
<br>Rima McKinzey wrote:
<br>>
<br>> Would any of you care to give me your opinion in an informal survey re the
<br>> pronunciation of adverbial -ically?  This would be in words like
<br>> authentically, historically, optimistically, etc.
<br>>
<br>> Specifically (right), do you pronounce a schwa between the k and the lee?
<br>> (I know, I'm not getting into IPA forms, but most e-mail programs don't
<br>> support the fonts.)
<br>>
<br>> Thanks,
<br>>
<br>> Rima
<br>
<br>My speech has no schwa there.  Careful: my native English is "platform
<br>English".
<br>
<br>In three of the four words you cite (authentically, optimistically,  and
<br>specifically)
<br>I have trouble accepting a possible back-formation.  My dialect does not
<br>use the words "authentical", "optimistical", or "specifically".  I was
<br>going to suggest that as the "cause" of my lack of schwa in the
<br>indicated position.
<br>
<br>Of course, that whole line of argument fails, even in my own dialect(s),
<br>in the face of the fact that "historical" sounds like a perfectly normal
<br>word to me.
<br>
<br>Here's an experiment I can't resist: maybe the absence of that
<br>particular feature in my vocabulary means that I might be inclined to
<br>write "authenticly" or "optimisticly"  or "specificly" without an A.
<br>(The spelling checker in Netscape  rejected those spellings,
<br>unfortunately.)
<br>
<br>Anybody else care to report on dialect differences and similarities that
<br>might help Rima's survey?  Go ahead, do it!
<br>
<br>Please don't try to clutter up my mind with relevant facts.  I've
<br>already made up my mind about what the conclusion ought to say, and God
<br>help the data that refuse to bend to my will.  Rima, I gather, is much
<br>more likely to report what she can back up through her contemporaneous
<br>participation in the observation and your responses to her questions.
<br>
<br>--  mike salovesh                               <salovesh[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]niu.edu>
<br>    anthropology department
<br>    northern illinois university                     PEACE !!!
<br>