End of ADS-L Digest - 11 Apr 1995 to 12 Apr 1995

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There are 8 messages totalling 235 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. Peggy (3)

 2. Announcement--10th Annual Tamony Lecture

 3. Death Cigarettes

 4. Robert/Bob

 5. Southern Shuft

 6. Neutralized I E



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Date:  Thu, 13 Apr 1995 02:13:31 -0500

From:  Leo Horishny <Leo_Horishny[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]POL.COM>

Subject: Re: Peggy



Margaret--[trunc.]-->Meg-->Peg--[dimin.]-->Peggy



As in



Mary-->Molly-->Polly



There seems to be a tendency for stops to replace nasals (as above) or liquids

(as in Richard-->Dick, Robert-->Bob) or of course fricatives (Theodore-->Ted)

in this process of hypocoristicism...



Best, Laurence-->Larry

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 -----------------------------



Ok, I can buy that, but having only a very rudimentary background in

linguistics, all you have

explained to me is the HOW of my question. I'm being picky, but I'm

interested too in the WHY!

What is the cause of the P stop having been chosen for this evolution versus a

D or a B? I'm

looking for the story behind how this change happened. I know it's there

somewhere, and that's what

I'm interested in finding out. ;-) Whence did this change occur?  What

ethnic pool did this happen

in? Was there a specific person that prompted this change indirectly? I

guess I'm looking for the

SOCIO-linguistic response to my query! <G>



leo_horishny[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pol.com

Leo--->Leo--->Leo