pyotr filipivich wrote:
Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but "rigger" wrote on 20
May 2006 08:51:57 -0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :

By the way, now that I've got someone of linguistic expertise handy, I
hope you can answer a question for me. I was listening to a shortwave
BBC news program the other day and the speaker, who seemed to my
uneducated ears as "Very British", kept on referring to China as
"Chin-er"; what's with that?

Just as there are silent letters, e.g. the 'b' in 'subtle'; so there
are 'invisible letters' which are pronounced, but not written, such as the
final 'r' in words written with terminal a vowel. Hence "Cuba" is
pronounced "Cub-er", "China" as "Chin'er", and "milk shake" as "frapp".
This is all part and properties of the transitive consonant, because to
make up for these pronunciation of invisible letters, other instances of
the letter are not pronounced, e.g. the Rs in Harvard (Haavad), automobile
(ca'ah) and Worcester (Woostah).
It is a hold over from the days of the Puritans, who spoke the dialect
of East Anglia, not necessarily that of London (i.e. the King's English.).


Is this still considered the "King's" (or
Queen's as some prefer) English? Or has your form of english also
stagnated? Some dialects such as Cockney seem quite different and
unintelligible. You dig what I'm sayin' bro'?

"There are places where English quite simply disappears.
In America, they haven't spoken it for years." Prof. H. Higgins.

dennis
in nca

--
pyotr filipivich.
as an explaination for the decline in the US's tech edge, James
Niccol wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at
producing stuff teenaged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."

"There are places where English quite simply disappears. In America,
they haven't spoken it for years." Prof. H. Higgins

I agree, however it seems this may be purposeful as shown in this item
I just read in a news report this morning:

"Before he became president, John Adams lobbied in 1780 for the
creation of a national academy to refine, correct and improve the
English language. Adams' proposal died, thanks to some lawmakers who
saw it as a Royalist attempt to define personal behavior."

With this idea in mind, and the United States as large and undeveloped
as it was originally, it would be odd if the language _didn't_ change.

dennis
in nca