Sorry, Dick, I attributed your post to Bill Spruell by mistake.

Herb

Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306
[log in to unmask]
________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veit, Richard [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: November 18, 2008 10:43 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: nooze or noose?

Lately I’m noticing some people pronouncing the word news as “noose” rather than “nooze.” For example, on Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep says “This is NPR nooze” but co-host Renee Montagne says “NPR noose.”

Generally Americans use the z sound for the plural marker following a vowel sound, as in days, fees, sighs, potatoes, and dues. So what’s up with “noose”? Does it mean that news has become a monolithic morpheme ( {news} rather than {new} + {PLURAL} ) for them and so escapes the rule mandating the z-sound-after-vowels for the plural marker?

Dick Veit
________________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/