Date:  Thu, 24 Feb 1994 14:09:31 EST

From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: croissants



In response to Dennis's post, I'd figure that the expectation that

'croissant'-->[kroysaent] would be based on either spelling or (a reversal of)

history, in the sense that the [oy] diphthong represents the earlier stage of

what developed into MFr. [wa] (around the Revolution?). But in fact this

particular change doesn't strike me as being plausibly reversible, and in any

case from a phonological (rather than orthographic) point of view, his

attested [krusaent] is a better representation of the source. Or the other

half of the diphthong could be retained, and indeed I've heard something like

[kr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SANT] even more frequently than the previously noted simplification.

  \

   schwa                    Larry