Front round vowels … and [r]?
Arnold Zwicky made a quick Language Log post this morning, pointing to the Wikipedia page on heavy metal umlaut. A highly edutaining page, especially if (like me) you’re at that special intersection of “Linguistics Geek” and “Music Nerd”. But there was something specific there that caught my phonologist-eye:
At one Mötley Crüe performance in Germany, the entire audience started chanting “Moertley Crueh!”
Where does that [r] in “Moertley” come from? (more…)
