Brian:
> I'm not sure that this is a direct consequence of its being
> a loanword, though: I hear it with secondary stress on the
> second syllable, ['la,tHej], and I suspect that it's this
> that blocks flapping. (Of course the stress pattern may be
> because it's a loanword.)
Why secondary stress? Nothing stops "t" from being tapped in
"brittle". So why "latte" then, unless it is the fact that it
is a foreign word and is therefore hypercorrected in pronunciation.
Speaking of annoying, pretentious pronunciations, I still have
an issue with "Beijing", most often pronounced as /bEj'3IN/.
Look folks, this isn't French. They don't speak French in China
either. If you want to pronounce it properly then say /d3/ as
they do in Beijing. I don't know what French news reporter
started this damn mess but it has to stop here and now! ;)
= gLeN