Date:  Sun, 12 Nov 1995 20:08:27 -0500

From:  Al Futrell <awfutr01[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HOMER.LOUISVILLE.EDU>

Subject: Re: near rich



On Sun, 12 Nov 1995, David Bergdahl wrote:



> Could it be that the senator's mishearing was due to a lenis glottal stop to

> separate the two syllables of r-less NEAR: [ni?[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]] with ?=g.s & [AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]=schwa I'm

> a hundred miles upstream from Louisville but that articulation isn't totally

> foreign to my ear.

>

I guess it could be but when I heard the broadcast I think it was a

simple matter of physical noise on the line. And the senator is over 70

so maybe he just can't hear very well. I don't think there was anything

linguistic about his pronunciation, but I think the fact that he used the

taboo term is the issue -- sociolinguitic I would say.



Al Futrell

-- awfutr01[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]homer.louisville.edu

-- http://www.louisville.edu/~awfutr01

Dept of Communication -- University of Louisville