Re: [tied] Re: PIE Word Formation (1)

From: Brian M. Scott
Message: 44122
Date: 2006-04-04

At 11:50:09 AM on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, Rob wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Piotr Gasiorowski"
> <gpiotr@...> wrote:

[...]

>> Anyway, reduction in monosyllabic words can be blocked if
>> it should yield unsyllabifiable output. E.g. English lost
>> its final schwas ca. 1300, but not in grammatical words
>> like <the> (the schwa has been restored even in sandhi
>> forms like <th'Omnipotent>, once common)

> In pronouncing "the Omnipotent" myself, I find that it is
> very difficult to discern the schwa in the article from
> the initial vowel from the noun.

I wouldn't expect a schwa, but I'm a little surprised by
[DA:m...]: the more usual pronunciation, I think, is
[DiAm'nIp&t&nt] (where the [i] can vary towards [I] and the
[A] towards [&]).

[...]

Brian