Tuesday, July 6, 2010

absolutely, aps, abz

"If it surprises anyone that /p/ was to be he’rd in this word for "b" one may point out that, despite the lack of enthusiasm of the pronunciation lexicographers to record most of them, for at least two generations many words spelt and are constantly to be he’rd with either pre assimilation to /ӕps-/ and /ɒps-/ etc or post assimilation to /ӕbz-/ and /ɒbz-/ etc. For example the form /ˈӕpsə`luːtli/ of “absolutely” is extremely common. I recorded a sparing dozen such forms in my 1972 CPD."

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