Date:  Wed, 15 Dec 1993 21:25:14 -0700

From:  Rudy Troike <RTROIKE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ARIZVMS.BITNET>

Subject: Re: modren metathesis



Dennis--

    I responded to Don's last note before I saw yours. I could not agree

more with your point, but I would add, per my examples, that variation can

exist in a society without coexisting in the PRODUCTIVE competence of indivi-

duals, though clearly coexisting in their RECEPTIVE competence (an old distinc-

tion I made back in '68, which has had little attention in the psycholinguistic

literature). Like the lady in the Wausau commercial with the postvocalic /r/,

I can hear a different form without ever producing it, or sometimes without

even being conscious that it is different from mine.

    --Rudy