LINGUIST List 21.2179
Tue May 11 2010
Disc: Supposed Compensatory Lengthening
Editor for this issue: Evelyn Richter
<evelynlinguistlist.org>
1. Lynn
Guindon,
Supposed Compensatory Lengthening
Message 1: Supposed Compensatory Lengthening
Date: 10-May-2010
From: Lynn Guindon <lguindonwindstream.net>
Subject: Supposed Compensatory Lengthening
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I've noticed a phenomenon only recently involving the apparent shift oflength from the consonant to the vowel. English speakers are frequently nowpronouncing 'irregular' as though it were 'eregular'. While it is possiblethat length is being transferred or metathesized, I am more inclined tothink the following three suggestions are more likely:
1. The speaker is undergoing a bit of morphological reanalysis based on thefact that we pronounce the unstressed vowel in the prefix 'in-' more or lessthe same way that we pronounce the vowel (when unstressed) of the prefix'e-' (irreconcileable vs. erect). This morphological confusion might arisebecause the fact of the nasal in the prefix 'in-' having undergone totalassimilation to the following 'r' is no longer accessible to most nativeEnglish speakers. Another example of this confusion of morphemes derivingfrom homophony is 'could of' from a confusion of 'could have' with 'kind of'.
2. The speaker may be subconsciously aware that the syllable is long, butconfuse syllable length with vowel length. I say this because for me, thedouble 'r' in irregular really is long, beginning in the coda of the firstsyllable, and extending into the onset of the next. This makes the firstsyllable heavy (VC), which can be reinterpreted as V: by speakers for whothe double 'r' is in the process of reducing.
3. A combination of #1 and #2.
If anyone else has noticed this, or knows of an explanation already positedfor it, I would greatly appreciate a response. I will, of course, be happyto summarize the responses for the List.
-Lynn Guindon
Linguistic Field(s):
Morphology
Phonology
Subject Language(s): English (eng)
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