As for Birmingham, I like the idea of analysing it as a monosyllable [b?m��m] although I would tend to think of the eng and the second m as syllabic, but there is then a near minimal pair with the interjection [mhm] meaning "no".
[mhm] is a positive for me. It is [m?m] which is negative. -- Michael Everson * * Everson Typography * * http://www.evertype.com
