Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex consonants)

Andreas Johansson scripsit:

> I don't think I've ever heard an actual native anglophone say "ghoul", but
> my dictionary thinks it's [gaUl].
Well, Poe's poem "The Bells" makes "ghouls" rhyme with "rolls" and "tolls",
but until now I have always made it [gulz].  Lovecraft, IIRC, used the
spelling "gholes", which suggests that he agreed with Poe.

m-w.com OTOH agrees with me, and points to Arabic "ghul" as the source.

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_