Posted by Rick Denney on November 19, 2001 at 15:54:21:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "Tubist" or "Tubaist"? posted by tubaist on November 19, 2001 at 14:48:43:
Thank you for making my point. The recording on that link sounds like a first-grade teacher trying to correct the slurred speech of a toddler. It would offend most folks in coversation.
I had an aunt who had a problem with the word "vehement." The proper pronunciation is "vee'-a-mint," but she always pronounced it "vee'-him-a-nint." But if anyone within her hearing pronounced it slowly and clearly in order to give her a proper example, she'd have gotten her feelings hurt.
People don't say "too-bah-ist", especially with an equal stress on the last syllable. It would upset the flow of any sentence and bring attention to itself. People speaking naturally and not trying to instruct the listener on proper pronunciation will slur the vowells together as they do an almost all English words where the two syllables don't receive the accent. Too-bah-ist therefore sounds like it belongs in the sentence "I-am-a-too-bah-ist," with a clear space between all words as if they were marked staccato. You might hear it that way on the Voice of America, but not on the street. In relaxed, natural conversation, it would come out "I'm a tub-uhst", whether or not the speaker spelled it "tubist" or "tubaist".
The gas station attendent would not understand it either way, which is why I say "tuba player" when they point to the body bag in the back seat.
Rick "tubist who plays the tuba" Denney