Re: [MTLR] RE: The Vocalic Theory (PIE *al-)

--- Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

>
>
> Richard Wordingham <richard.wordingham@...>
> wrote: But some are
> rather lacking before a velar nasal in English. The
> sequence /eN/ is rather artificial in English (I
> take issue with J.D.
> O'Connor here, while using his evidence) - it
> occurs in _dreng_, as a
> borrowing from Old English, but the regularly
> derived form is dialect
> _dring_.
>
> ---------------------
> What about <length> and <strength>, two common
> words? I think only a fairly small minority of
> people pronounce them as /lEnT/, /strEnT/ with
> dental /n/. I can't remember hearing those
> pronunciations for probably the last twenty years,
> whether in my city, when travelling, on TV, or in
> movies. I think a considerable majority of people
> pronounce them /lENT/ and /strENT/ or as /lENkT/ and
> /strENkT/ with velar /N/.

I've heard it most often (but not always) among older
middle class African-Americans --e.g. Diana Ross
pronounces /strEnT/ in one of her songs, but that was
in the 60s.