Re: CHAT: Newfs (was: Getting into the intro game)

Stephen DeGrace scripsit:

> It's just "boy", sound shifted to something like
> /baj/.
I suspect this is not a sound change, but a lack of sound change.
/aI/ is the historic pronunciation of "oi, oy" in English until
the 19th century or so: even in Mark Twain we find spellings like
"jine" and "bile" for "join" and "boil", showing that /OI/ or the
like had become standard, but /aI/ remained in certain dialects.
NF was settled early and is an island, making it likely that the
18th-century (and earlier) form was preserved there.

--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_