LINGUIST List 5.1183

Wed 26 Oct 1994

Qs: English flaps, Insults, Borrowings, Dyspraxia

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Directory

1. , Query: t-tapping/flapping
2. , Verbal Insults
3. , Between Query and Summary: Body Part Borrowings
4. , Query: Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme and Cued Speech

A student and I would like some information on the environments in which
tapped or 'flapped' <t> occurs in different varieties of English.
Trager ( in American Speech for 1942) says that voiced /t/ 'occurs after
strong-stressed vowels before weak-stressed vowels' and this description is
echoed by others later, including Chambers for Canadian English. This
gives a voiced medial consonant in _butter_, for example.
Others have a different description, saying that the tap is found 'at the
beginning of a non-initial unstressed syllable' (Rogers, Henry 1991.
Theoretical and Practical Phonetics. Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman.) This
allows for a flap in words like _ability_, where neither of the syllables
to which the <t> might belong is stressed. This type of formulation is
also used by Chambers, in later publications.
As they stand, these do not describe <t>-tapping in New Zealand English,
where the tapped/'flapped' version can also be found pre-tonically in
phrases such as _get eggs, white elephant_. This situation is also
described in the textbook of US pronunciation that I helped write (Bauer,
Dienhart, Hartvigson and Kvistgaard Jakobson, American English
Pronunciation, Copenhagen, 1980).
So, the questions: do we have different dialects described here, or are
they (more or less competent) descriptions of the same set of facts? Is
tapping/'flapping' restricted to one particular stress environment in the
kind of English *you* speak? If so, what? Finally Rogers cited above says
this is syllable-initial, while Wells (Accents of English, 1982) says it is
syllable-final. How would we tell the difference? Can we say who is
correct?
Thanks in advance for your help. I can summarise for the list if there is
interest.
Laurie

Laurie.BAUERvuw.ac.nz
Department of Linguistics, Victoria University, PO Box 600, Wellington, New
Zealand
Ph: +64 4 472 1000 x 8800 Fax: +64 4 471 2070

Hello everyone. I'm currently preparing a bibliography of linguistic
(and other) articles having to do with 'verbal insults' in a variety of
cultures and languages. I would be grateful if you could forward me the
references of any articles you may be familiar with. When I've got a
substantial list, I'll make it available to all interested.

Thanks so much,
Kira Hall
Department of Linguistics
UC Berkeley
khallgarnet.berkeley.edu

I have now receievd examples of borrowed 'tongue' and 'eye',
which I will post in due course. I am still looking for an
example of a borrowed word for 'ear'.

I have just been approached by a member of the public who has two children
'without language'. Her 4 and a half year old has been diagnosed as having
Articulatory Dyspraxia, and her two-year-old as having an un(der)developed
brain. She has had recommended to her the Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme and
(separate thing) Cued Articulation or Cued Speech.
All I can discover about Cued Speech is the brief article in Crystal's
Encyclopedia. Can anyone help with any details of the two programmes, or
references which the mother could look at herself?
Thanks
Laurie

Laurie.BAUERvuw.ac.nz
Department of Linguistics, Victoria University, PO Box 600, Wellington, New
Zealand
Ph: +64 4 472 1000 x 8800 Fax: +64 4 471 2070