--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> Oh, come on. "Prob'ly" is so common that it gets recorded by
pronouncing
> dictionaries. So is "particu'ly". Of course it's hard to distinguish
> "abrupt haplology" (bVbV --> bV) from "syncope cum degemination" (bVbV
> --> bbV --> bV) especially if the first vowel is unstressed, but it's
> the effect that counts. I've heard "parall'ism" more than once, and
here
> vowel loss with degemination is unlikely, since the haplologically (or
> should I say "haplogically") lost vowel is full in the original form.
This is a different route to the one I had in mind. In what follows,
I will transliterate IPA to X-SAMPA. You are describing a development
from /prQb&b&li:/ (and similar), which leaves the intermediate stage
/prQb&li:/. I was talking of /prQb&bli:/ > /prQbbli:/ > /prQbli:/.
The syncopation is regular in my speech. Notice that the degemination
is happening in a cluster of three or more consonants.
Peter Gray's examples of "lib'ry" <library> and "Feb'ry" <February>
need not be haplology - they are parallel to the common homophony of
<secretary> and <sectary>, where /r&/ has vocalised (after
syncopation?) as /&/ (/r/ and /&/ seem to function as a
semivowel-vowel pair in non-rhotic English), and then been (further?)
syncopated. A simpler explanation of "lib'ry" is that it is also
syncopation followed by degemination. <February> also has the natural
development route */febrjU&ri:/ > /febjU&ri:/ > /febj&ri:/ > /febri:/.
The first stage may actually be <February> > <Febuary> - the latter
is a common misspelling.
I don't think "parall'ism" is as clear case as it may seem.
<parallel> may be pronounced as a single foot, /"p{r&l&l/, in which
case /"p{r&l%lIz&m/ (% = secondary stress) and /"p{r&l&%lIz&m/ are
obvious pronunciations of <parallelism>, so degemination is again a
possibility, though less compelling than before.
Richard.