Date:  Fri, 10 Nov 1995 11:24:24 -0500

From:  "M. Lynne Murphy" <104LYN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MUSE.ARTS.WITS.AC.ZA>

Subject: Re: Gnarly Gnews!



> However, it is not surprising that even some native speakers of this

> dialect (?) do not know its origin and therefore reanalyze it to have

> either a different silent letter in spelling (k) or none at all. Both

> Marilyn and I are sure we've seen 'Narly!' written before (where?).



but, i do think that (some) people pronounce it w/ a pretty velar

nasal at the front--almost with the 'g'. maybe it's just me--

something sound-symbolic about it. or maybe it's the gesture that

is symbolic--cramming the tongue up in the back of the mouth so as to

be gnarled.



lynne



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

Dr. M. Lynne Murphy            104lyn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]muse.arts.wits.ac.za

Department of Linguistics            phone: 27(11)716-2340

University of the Witwatersrand          fax: 27(11)716-4199

Johannesburg 2050

SOUTH AFRICA