Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 15:37:39 EDT

From: "David A. Johns" daj000[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]FOX.WAY.PEACHNET.EDU

Subject: Re: -own/-ewn past participles



At 04:34 PM 9/14/96 BST, you wrote:

In New Zealand and Australian English, a change is underway in a closed set

of past

participles ending -own/-ewn (blown, flown, shown, mown, sown, sewn, grown,

strewn,

known, thrown, hewn).



The change involves the insertion of schwa before the final /n/, so, where

[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE] = schwa,:



/flo:n/ becomes /flo:[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n/ or /flow[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n/

/gro:n/ becomes /gro:[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n - grow[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n/ etc.

/stru:n/ becomes /stru:[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n/

/hju:n/ becomes /hju:[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]n/



This change is NOT taking place in words such as groan, moan, moon, tune or

own. Is

this common anywhere in North America?



This is fairly common in the area of Wisconsin I lived in, and I understood

it to spread into Minnesota and who knows where else. That area has a lot

of German and Scandinavian influence, by the way.



Another interesting one is "store-boughten" clothes.



David Johns

Waycross College

Waycross, GA