Query Details

Query Subject:	English pronunciation
Author:	John Esposito
Submitter Email:	click here to access email

Linguistic LingField(s):	Phonetics Phonology

Query:	Greetings, Wondered if anyone had an idea why a substantial number of Americans pronounce the word ''both'' with an l. A first-semester lx. student surprised me by supplying a hypothesis: she grew up in a community of Danish ancestors. In some environments, Danish d and t become a liquid, acoustically similar to (or perhaps a uvular R); I believe this sound was pronounced as eth until recent generations, following more or less predictably the weakening hierarchy. However, a survey of other students with this pronunciation yielded only about 50% having contact with Scandinavian (mostly Norwegian) neighbors; furthermore, I'm not aware of Dano-Norwegian (bokmal) having this sound. Perhaps there's a simpler explanation? Is it due to an acoustic similarity between /o/ and ? An analogy to ''bowl''? John Esposito San Diego State Univ.
LL Issue:	15.3227
Date posted:	17-Nov-2004
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