Date:  Sun, 10 Sep 1995 22:26:23 EDT

From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: Re: Pronounciation of Oxymoron -Reply



Is it safe to assume (as I always have, safely or not) that 'n(y)u-cue-lar'

comes from analogizing that particular adjective to others with the relatively

prevalent -(c)ular ending (popular, vernacular, spectacular, ocular)? This

would mean it's not exactly a matter of phonotactics per se. Evidence for

this line would be people who differentiate 'nucular' from 'nucleus' (vs.

*nuculus), where the phonotactics would be similar but the tendency for

analogizing would be less (given the relatively infrequent -(c)ulus ending for

nominals).



Larry