So there’s a fun frivolous branch from the cases you list here. I happen to share your allergy at the not-nuclear (can’t even bring myself to type it).
But on aks, I learned something a few years ago (10?) from our phonologist colleague Ian Maddieson when we were doing language work together. Apparently, that pronunciation has gone back and forth several times in history. At least one of the early foundation forms was axiom, and the aks was directly from that. If I remember correctly, it had changed to ask just before the time of Shakespeare’s writing. I think I distinctly remember Ian’s saying, though, that it was unstable and had gone back and forth a couple of times, but I don’t recall his saying when. One of the things I would ask John McWhorter if I had access to him, since he has a lot of knowledge of cryptic roots of Black American English in various dialects in Britain at colonial times, is whether there were minority dialects sequestered somewhere in the isles where aks had been preserved, and that is the American origin, along with retention of the habitual tense (he be walkin by, contrasted with the present progressive he walkin by), or whether ask -> aks was a re-innovation that took place in the Americas, because that particular consonant cluster is labile and invites change. Eric > On Dec 1, 2023, at 8:21 AM, glen <geprope...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > So, on the death of The War Criminal, I've been reflecting on the most > irritating thing to me about George W Bush's stint: nukular. Sure. It's > irritating that he started a war for no good reason. If we learn anything > from Kissinger's treatment by the press, it's that those sorts of things > don't actually matter. > > But the way you pronounce "nuclear"? That matters ... to me, anyway. I've > managed to grind off the burrs in my thinking when someone says "axe" instead > of "ask", glottals their Ts, etc. But I just can't get over nukular. Every > time someone says it that way, whatever it was I was doing or thinking goes > straight out the fscking window. With, say, "axe", I can actually do it > myself without feeling shame. Same with t-flapping. (And vocal fry.) > > Wikipedia gives me a nice list of triggerable attributes of language: > metathesis, elision, epenthesis, flapping, assimilation, dissimilation, etc. > My request, here, is for examples from anyone that rankle you or that you've > overcome. Presumably, the more aware I am with others' struggles with such, > the less I'll be triggered by my own. > > -- > ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ > > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fbit.ly%2fvirtualfriam&c=E,1,r1OBNNZ7-afGfEHO0KY-jCECITZzULCPB3AtSKJ419HlhVA-wIjJAihxfI2j_g723DKEmKVOWMM505HKqsSEGaxRuH9nD4ZUEh9yuFxJ&typo=1 > to (un)subscribe > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fmailman%2flistinfo%2ffriam_redfish.com&c=E,1,C-Jrg4mYGb3UaPUF9B2qsM0Wua1kZ_goMNt_q4wQfNIm0RT-wFBA2Plwl5Tez0P0zWYrCM1JkyzWUzNKyLsA01s1tMNLCEs-kXtl3AB660IGlVLf&typo=1 > FRIAM-COMIC > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2ffriam-comic.blogspot.com%2f&c=E,1,V9XY9mV2UIqxseLnOUUjhwc3TZyQKf0Y_jLOq0uLLZxzRdL7w4Lh-8_t_DQGVGQrAoNR32HTbUjhMlIbc5wyuTRWUSwM1rwuddOMVY7nrVrJ1QHtUZo8eZ0,&typo=1 > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fpipermail%2ffriam_redfish.com%2f&c=E,1,vz0HgyW91GA-Q2-KAtgRlbag5OKEmWtX2i0RCsFVRYfmmKDAT1usIY5LdcKssw9DrzTc0OeLsS2J-BV2KPeYMImQOixw7dnPUhoMMNdKyMB_MC6mYop_59s8&typo=1 > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom https://bit.ly/virtualfriam to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
