Comments on: Fat Bosses http://www.sinoglot.com/bjs/2008/10/fat-bosses/?&owa_medium=feed&owa_sid= Home of the Beijing Sounds Studios: productions mostly of language through foreign ears Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:08:32 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: syz http://www.sinoglot.com/bjs/2008/10/fat-bosses/comment-page-1/#comment-3130 syz Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:21:04 +0000 http://www.bjshengr.com/bjs/?p=223#comment-3130 <i>There’s no syllable [bwe] in English, but “syllables” are things that are defined arbitrarily anyway. In English, those sounds can be together (subway [ˈsʌbwei]), albeit not at the beginning of a word.</i> Bwahaha! Randy, wrong again :^) There’s no syllable [bwe] in English, but “syllables” are things that are defined arbitrarily anyway. In English, those sounds can be together (subway [ˈsʌbwei]), albeit not at the beginning of a word.

Bwahaha! Randy, wrong again
:^)

]]> By: Sima http://www.sinoglot.com/bjs/2008/10/fat-bosses/comment-page-1/#comment-3128 Sima Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:24:55 +0000 http://www.bjshengr.com/bjs/?p=223#comment-3128 Thanks for putting me straight on that, Randy. I was hoping there might be something along those lines, but my grey matter just wasn't up to the task. Btw, I'll accept that 'syllable' is not necessarily an entirely clear concept, but I think I've always been prone to attach too much importance to 'word' as a unit of language. I'm with you up to a point on the cause of such syllable reductions. There are certainly other processes at work, but I don't think we can eliminate the possibility that foreign language learning might be a contributory factor in such cases. I'm less interested in why such changes might come about, than in the notion that they may be coming about. At the moment, I don't think a couple of recent examples are enough to show that this is either a new or significant phenomenon. But I'm intrigued. Thanks for putting me straight on that, Randy. I was hoping there might be something along those lines, but my grey matter just wasn’t up to the task. Btw, I’ll accept that ’syllable’ is not necessarily an entirely clear concept, but I think I’ve always been prone to attach too much importance to ‘word’ as a unit of language.

I’m with you up to a point on the cause of such syllable reductions. There are certainly other processes at work, but I don’t think we can eliminate the possibility that foreign language learning might be a contributory factor in such cases.

I’m less interested in why such changes might come about, than in the notion that they may be coming about. At the moment, I don’t think a couple of recent examples are enough to show that this is either a new or significant phenomenon. But I’m intrigued.

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