The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #124660   Message #2754367
Posted By: Rowan
28-Oct-09 - 05:51 PM
Thread Name: BS: Pronunciation of ph, th, sh words
Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of ph, th, sh words
I do like GB Shaw's joke.....he wanted to simplify English orthography, little realising that its morpho phonemic nature allow us to see the difference between our many hohophones.

It's not yet the end of October but I wondered if Santa really uses hohophones.

I have heard 'Notruh Dom' only from those trying to be pedantic. Maybe different back East, I dunno.

Before I learned American pronunciation, the only experience I had with this name was on the outsides of various churches in Melbourne, where it was pronounced the way we were taught in French class; Notr Darm. But I guess we're almost as far "back East" as you can go.

And I'd written this before I realised that many from the US pronounce "Dom" the way we'd pronounce "Darm"; "Dom" has a very short "o" here.

Cheers, Rowan