tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post8723124760681972034..comments2024-03-17T09:14:13.950+00:00Comments on John Wells’s phonetic blog: an indefinite oddityJohn Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13684304410735867148noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-69820444157386272322012-02-13T16:33:50.570+00:002012-02-13T16:33:50.570+00:00Yes, I'm suggesting that such 'running spe...Yes, I'm suggesting that such '<i>running speech</i>' was playing in the speakers head s at the time of writing.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-6623790355087684412012-02-13T16:17:20.141+00:002012-02-13T16:17:20.141+00:00Not exactly. It implies that under certain circums...Not exactly. It implies that under certain circumstances all speakers will place primary stress there in running speech, namely when "stress shift" and/or contrastive focus kick in.John Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13684304410735867148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-61758597528226354292012-02-13T15:56:39.573+00:002012-02-13T15:56:39.573+00:00The Google Ngram for "an homosexual" vs....The <a href="http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=a+homosexual%2Can+homosexual&year_start=1750&year_end=2010&corpus=0&smoothing=3" rel="nofollow">Google Ngram for "an homosexual" vs. "a homosexual"</a> shows the former to be invisibly rare. By contrast, <a href="http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=a+hotel%2C+an+hotel&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3" rel="nofollow">"an hotel" is reasonably common</a>.vphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647609487352038948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-46466849787854696612012-02-13T15:02:48.585+00:002012-02-13T15:02:48.585+00:00Doesn't that imply that for some speakers the ...Doesn't that imply that for some speakers the primary stress in on the first syllable? Especially if they're contrasting <i>homosexual</i> and <i>heterosexual</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-59064268797707550922012-02-13T14:01:11.293+00:002012-02-13T14:01:11.293+00:00Hereditary is of course in the same category as hi...<i>Hereditary</i> is of course in the same category as <i>historic</i> and <i>hotel</i>, i.e. with <i>h</i> in an UNstressed syllable. What was unusual about <i>homosexual</i> and <i>heterosexual</i> is that the <i>h</i> is in a (secondarily) STRESSED syllable.John Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13684304410735867148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-77293596149961035942012-02-13T13:26:34.047+00:002012-02-13T13:26:34.047+00:00This really is a reply to Ed
Googling "an h...This really is a reply to Ed<br /><br />Googling <i>"an hereditary"</i> produced about 221,000 results. Some are by punters querying the usage. Most seems to be instances of <i>"an hereditary monarchy"</i> or <i>"an hereditary disease"</i>. The latter appear to be from serious medical sites.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-90753302722937304192012-02-13T12:14:37.537+00:002012-02-13T12:14:37.537+00:00I have read the phrase "an hereditary peer&qu...I have read the phrase "an hereditary peer" a few times, which seems strange to me. There is <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/101-Uses-Hereditary-Peer-Wilkins/dp/1861053347" rel="nofollow">a book</a> that uses this in the title.<br /><br />(I don't mean this as a response to David. For some reason, the button to create a new comment is not appearing.)Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04081841460525341333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377103124456226005.post-41700484144269831552012-02-13T11:55:04.296+00:002012-02-13T11:55:04.296+00:00For what it's worth, "an homosexual"...For what it's worth, <i>"an homosexual"</i> gets about 31,700 results on Google. <i>"an heterosexual"</i> gets about 12,100 results<br /><br />Of course, it's hard to tell whether the writers are native speakers, but a cursory glance suggests that they are literate.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.com