Date:  Thu, 12 Oct 1995 08:09:15 -0700

From:  Dan Alford <dalford[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]S1.CSUHAYWARD.EDU>

Subject: Re: Ornery Kathleen



My eight-year-old girl pronounces her friend Ashley's name as ASH-uh-lee.

What's happening with these epenthetic schwas?



On Wed, 11 Oct 1995, Rima & Kim McKinzey wrote:



> >All my life I've noticed that some people have a tendency

> >to pronounce my name with three syllables.

> >"KATH' uh LEEN''" or somethin'.

>

> Presumably the same folks who add the "uh" in the middle of Kathleen (a 2

> syllable word as far as I can tell) are the same folks who say athuhlete

> (and drive me crazy).

>

> Ornery is different - losing a syllable, not adding a superfluous one.

> BTW, I say it with both the first r and 3 syllables and grew up in NY. Of

> course, it's not really a word I use a whole hell of a lot in any case.

>

> Rima

>