Talk:rhotic

Why the change from commas to semicolons in the list of places? Hippietrail 14:53, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Ah - it was to avoid ambiguity, so that "... the north of England, Scotland, and India" cannot be interpreted as "the north of England, the north of Scotland and the north of India". -- Paul G 17:00, 22 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * That makes sense. I remember it being a bit amgiguous now at the time. Thanks. Hippietrail 04:24, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Oxford and Midwestern English
The Oxford Dictionary ©2008 appears to be specific about the rhotic applying to Midwestern American English, in case you wish to reflect this in the article. They give examples, e.g., Midwestern American English, in which r is pronounced before a consonant (as in hard) and at the ends of words (as in far).

Be that as it may, I am troubled by the phrase "this trait is common in most of the United States", which implies (to my ear) "nearly all" (again drawing from one of the meanings in the OED). In fact, this trait is uncommon in New York, New Jersey, all of New England, eastern Pennsylvania, and large parts of the South.

This may be quibbling, but would any of you be open to rephrasing "most of" to "much of", "the larger part of", or "a majority of"? Anything to give a more precise meaning?

regards, --UnicornTapestry 04:33, 7 December 2008 (UTC)


 * A reasonable point. Switched to much of.  -Atelaes λάλει ἐμοί 04:43, 7 December 2008 (UTC)