On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 14:15:46 -0400, <cowan@...> wrote:

> No, it's Mgrvgrvla-dje. It takes longer to say the first syllable
> than it does to say most syllables, but it's a single syllable: the r's,
> in particular, are definitely not syllabic.

Good grief! Thanks. I'm amazed, but it really does seem that linguistics
has a good share of amazements.
The r's must be voiced (vocalic?).

> [...] <http://paul.merton.ox.ac.uk/language/vowels.html> for details
> [...]

Very amusing; thanks. Bookmarked...

[Hamtramck]

> was a Quebecois by birth, but it wouldn't astonish me if his family came
> from Flanders.

Indeed; the "ck" on the end looks Flemish to me. That brings up another
question: Assuming the name is Flemish, would the Flemish pronounce the
name with an unwritten vowel?

John, thank you for some very interesting and informative replies.

My regards to all,

--
Nicholas Bodley /*|*\ Waltham, Mass.
who grew up hearing Beethoven, but first realized at the
age of maybe 40 that his name is typically Dutch
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