Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 12:32:43 +0000

From: Aaron Drews aaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LING.ED.AC.UK

Subject: Re: Merzouri



-er- does not always refer to a schwa like sound in British

Englishes. The words _clerk_ and _derby_, eg, are pronounced with modern

realisations of [-a(r)-]. From what I understand, "Barkely" "Barcly"

(etc), and "Berkely" all spring from a common source, and all pronounced

with [-a(r)-]. The poet may have heard an Englishman or Scotsman say

"Berkely" with a back vowel, and "transcribed" his impression.

Nowadays, Berkely (as in U.C.), is pronounced with a schwa (RP) or

an epsilon (Scottish). All the other examples are still -ar-.

--Aaron



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Aaron E. Drews http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron

Ph.D. Candidate +44 (0)131 650-3485

The University of Edinburgh fax: +44 (0)131 650-3962

Departments of Linguistics and English Language