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From: Peter Hullah <Peter.Hullah@eurocontrol.fr>
Subject: Re: Dialling (was Re: Is '#' a "pound sign" or what?)
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Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 11:27:19 GMT
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Mark Wainwright wrote:
> 
> 
> The doubling is not directly related to whether the vowel is single or
> double, but to whether it is long or short.  The general rule is that a
> consonant is doubled after a short stressed vowel; in UK English, an `l'
> is doubled even after a short unstressed vowel.  (`s' is also treated in
> this way by some, giving `focussed', `biassed'.)

You mean that I've been spelling "focused" and "biased" incorrectly for the
last 30-odd years as have Messrs Collins? (They actually give a double 's'
as an alternative to "biased" but not "focused".)
 
> Phonetically `mail' and `dial' may both seem to be diphthongs ending in
> a schwa, but phonemically `mail' has one syllable in which the vowel is
> /ei/, the long `a' sound in `fate', which is a long vowel.  The vowel
> sound in `dial', however, is not a single English phoneme, so `dial' has
> two syllables, of which the second is short, so the `l' is doubled.

I find that I generally say /'daI@l/ and /'meI@l/, 
and /'daIling/ and /'meIling/ so I don't really see the difference.

Pete

-- 

Peter H.C. Hullah                     Technical Services
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