Date:  Mon, 13 May 1996 15:22:23 -0400

From:  "Dale F.Coye" <CoyeCFAT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: intrusive or unintrusive /l/



In a message dated 96-05-11 20:54:31 EDT, you write:



>Last night, Jerry and Kramer think that the man they see at the club

>is Salman Rushdie. Later, Kramer tells Jerry it is Rushdie. He's sure

>because when he asked the man his name, the man said he was "Sal Bass",

>n

>and that he's a writer. Kramer says Rushdie's substituting Íbaesß for

>Ísaem[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nß ([AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] = schwa), which is clever because he's kept it as a fish.



I saw it too, and Jerry was quick to point out to Kramer that his theory was

stupid because its pronounced SAM not SAL, but I was reminded that I knew

this guy from NYC who did say SAL m[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n, and how surprised I was by that. Was

this an idiosyncracy or is it more widespread?



Dale Coye

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Princeton