martes, 23 de mayo de 2017

STILL, I SAY IT LIKE WOMBAT.

There are some pronunciations I take for granted, like /leftenant/ and /kernel/ and /Wooster/ and /Fanshaw/... or /nome/, or /Right/(the surname, as in Richard /Right/ or the /Right/ brothers)...
...but then there's the cluster of -mb words and the fact that the final B is supposed to be silent. I've got used to /coam/ and /claym/, as well as /coaming/ and /clayming/ (those four being verbs is here the keystone factor!) but the rest of those -mb nouns end for me in a loud and proud B sound: /woomB/, /toomB/, /bomB/, /lamB/, /limB/, and so on. And the /bomming/ pronunciation also ticks me off. /Bomming/ my ass. I mean, that's a b, for Jove's sake, not a second m! In contrast to this, even /Fanshaw/ seems far less counterintuitive. I say /bomBing/, with that -mb- as in /womBat/.
That's yet another quirk about my idiolect.

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  2. I say /bomBing/ but /plumMer/. If you wonder why... Blame the Mario brothers. And the cluster of /-omb-/ in /wombat/

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