Date:  Fri, 26 Apr 1996 14:51:06 -0600

From:  Bruce Gelder <bgelder[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CAMEL.CORP.ES.COM>

Subject: Re: Elementary, My Dear



>I didn't put the [l] in Sherlock Holmes until at least after the movie

>version of The Seven Percent Solution.



Really? So even that is dialectal, I guess. I shouldn't be surprised.

I've just never heard "Sherlock Homes," is all.



I've been trying to formulate a phonological explanation for this

l-0 (el-null) alternation, but so far have been unsuccessful. The

only preliminary patterns I'm finding so far are that the phenomenon

seems to be occurring in short, monosyllabic, CV_C (or possibly CCV_C)

(where the _ represents the "l") words, and that the vowel before the

epenthesized (or not) [l] is nonhigh. But there are probably lots of

exceptions to that. Anyway, I haven't come up with anything satisfactory.



Bruce