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Dominic Watt

@domwatt.bsky.social

Senior Forensic Consultant, J P French International / Honorary Professor of Linguistics, University of York, UK. Now based in Berlin. Rides bikes and runs a bit.

660 Followers  |  535 Following  |  88 Posts  |  Joined: 06.11.2024
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Posts by Dominic Watt (@domwatt.bsky.social)

Presumably both <r>s were pronounced in 'Feverer' when that form was borrowed into English, given that English hadn't yet started derhoticising.

13.02.2026 21:37 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Routledge Handbook of Ethics in Forensic Linguistics The Routledge Handbook of EthicsΒ in Forensic Linguistics is the first comprehensive reference work to explore the ethical dimensions of forensic language analysis across a range of applied and academi...

Delighted to announce this book is finally being published! Over 3 years in the production. I've written Chapter 3 - Ethics and Professional Conduct Oversight in Forensic Linguistic Expert Evidence.
#ForensicLinguistics #Ethics #ExpertEvidence

07.01.2026 15:14 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 0
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Definition of ZHUZH a small improvement, adjustment, or addition that completes the overall look, taste, etc. of something… See the full definition

Merriam-Webster says this:

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/z...

Initial and final /Κ’/ are OK in loans like 'genre' and 'rouge', so the oddness is more to do with the spelling than the phonotactics. One of those words that's a cinch to pronounce but hard to know how to spell (like 'cinch').

20.12.2025 12:47 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Ptarmigan - Etymology, Origin & Meaning "wing"). See origin and meaning of ptarmigan.

No, it was put in the spelling by someone who thought the Gaelic name of the bird, tΓ rmachan, was Greek in origin. Gaelic, like English, doesn't allow /pt/-initial words (in the pronunciation; Gaelic spelling is renowned for using ink very liberally).

www.etymonline.com/word/ptarmigan

07.12.2025 15:02 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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A red grouse (Lagopus scotica) I encountered in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh last summer, demonstrating its very human-like alarm call. He seemed extremely cross that I'd had the audacity to ride my mountain bike across his patch and chased me along the trail for quite some distance.

07.12.2025 14:25 β€” πŸ‘ 353    πŸ” 122    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 5
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How many lakes are there in Scotland? A trick question perhaps?! On World Water Day, our freshwater advisory officer Ewan Lawrie takes a closer look at the answer. Dubh lochans on the blanket bog at Forsinard Flows National Nature Rese…

There are thousands to choose from - Assynt, Caithness, or the Isle of Lewis are particularly watery. More than one loch is a 'Lake'. There's even a Lake Superior, though it's ever so slightly smaller than its more famous North American counterpart!

scotlandsnature.wordpress.com/2021/03/22/h...

18.11.2025 08:28 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Accent bias logo. Four speech bubbles in four different coloured squares.

Accent bias logo. Four speech bubbles in four different coloured squares.

Since January 2022, we (me, 93% Club & SS) have been working a project that tackles accent bias in Higher Education, focusing on the 'elite' institution where we're based. Today, we're launching the project website which brings together all our work:

accentbias.ed.ac.uk

10.11.2025 09:27 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you for your work! I regularly ride my bike up/down Donkey Lane to the Heriot-Watt campus and am very grateful for your efforts to keep the area as clean and tidy as possible. If only my fellow citizens would take their rubbish home, or just use bins. (Looking at you, Currie dog walkers!).

07.11.2025 11:50 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

To me, the Scots pronunciation [ˈpΙ”lΙͺs] (rhymes with 'Hollis', 'solace', 'Wallace') doesn't encode animus towards law enforcement. Nevertheless, failing to adjust vernacular pronunciations like these is seen by some people as inappropriately casual, even disrespectful, in a courtroom scenario.

07.11.2025 09:47 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

If you're Scottish, the central [a] vowel you use in 'Mam'/'Danny' is close(ish) to the back [Ι‘] vowel many US English speakers have in 'Mom' and 'Donny'.

They also tend to use [Ι‘] in foreign-origin words like 'pasta', 'plaza', or 'Mamdani', in favour of the front [Γ¦] of their 'Mam' and 'Danny'.

07.11.2025 01:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

If you like the Bewick's you'll also like the Whooper Swan, which looks very similar, but is bigger, and with even more yellow on its bill. You might need to head further north to see them, though.

birdfact.com/birds/whoope...

02.11.2025 07:59 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

How about place names like 'Camden' or 'Trimdon'?

The <p> in the spelling of 'Hampden' (the Glasgow stadium) tends not to be pronounced, making 'Hampden' a perfect rhyme with 'Camden'.

No English speaker is likely to say that the name 'Emden' (the German city) is hard to pronounce, either.

01.11.2025 15:30 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Extract from the etymology section of the online Oxford English Dictionary's entry for 'penguin'.

Summary
Probably a borrowing from Welsh.
Etymon: Welsh pen gwyn.

Probably < Welsh pen gwyn white head (< pen head, headland (see pen n.1) + gwyn white: see gwyniad n.). Compare Dutch pinguin (1595 as fenguin; probably < English), German Pinguin (1599 as pagnies, 1606 as pencuius, both plural; < English or Dutch), Swedish pingvin (1685; perhaps < German), French pingouin (1598 in Middle French as pinguyn; < Dutch). Welsh pengwin Great Auk (1677 in a translation of quot. 1584), penguin (1872) is probably < English (compare also Welsh regional (northern) †pengwin bach little auk, razorbill (19th cent. in an isolated attestation)).

Extract from the etymology section of the online Oxford English Dictionary's entry for 'penguin'. Summary Probably a borrowing from Welsh. Etymon: Welsh pen gwyn. Probably < Welsh pen gwyn white head (< pen head, headland (see pen n.1) + gwyn white: see gwyniad n.). Compare Dutch pinguin (1595 as fenguin; probably < English), German Pinguin (1599 as pagnies, 1606 as pencuius, both plural; < English or Dutch), Swedish pingvin (1685; perhaps < German), French pingouin (1598 in Middle French as pinguyn; < Dutch). Welsh pengwin Great Auk (1677 in a translation of quot. 1584), penguin (1872) is probably < English (compare also Welsh regional (northern) †pengwin bach little auk, razorbill (19th cent. in an isolated attestation)).

Well... possibly. The online Oxford English Dictionary says the following, but it's accompanied by a long set of notes which suggest that the the great auk might originally have been named after a place, i.e. a white headland or island. Great auks themselves didn't have white heads.

31.10.2025 19:16 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Penguin - Etymology, Origin & Meaning Originating in the 1570s for the extinct great auk of Newfoundland, "penguin" likely derives from Welsh pen "head" + gwyn "white"; meaning shifted to Antarctic sw...

www.etymonline.com/word/penguin

31.10.2025 08:00 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

OK, thanks. In that case I'm a speaker of a variety (Standard Scottish English) that distinguishes FORCE and NORTH with some degree of consistency, depending on the age of the speaker. I worry that asking me to list lexemes that belong in either set is likely to open an unhelpful can of worms!

27.10.2025 21:23 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you! I'll head up there tomorrow to take a look at your handiwork πŸ™

27.10.2025 21:11 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Joey, at the end of your guide you say "If you are a native speaker of a variety that maintains a distinction between NORTH or CLOTH..." - does that mean between NORTH and FORCE/THOUGHT and/or between CLOTH and FORCE/THOUGHT(/NORTH)? I thought I'd better clarify.

Wells (1982) is now 43 years old 😬

27.10.2025 21:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The trend is towards greater uniformity, as dialect levelling and diffusion of new forms from centres of sociolinguistic gravity (esp. London) conspire to reduce the distinctions between varieties. If the dialect map of Britain were a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces would appear to get bigger over time.

26.10.2025 18:28 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Thrilled that The Oxford Handbook of Language and Prejudice, published barely a month ago, has won its first award: Curtin University's "Publication of the Year"! πŸ† (Co-editor Sender Dovchin works at Curtin.) πŸŽ‰ Get yours here πŸ˜‰: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

24.10.2025 15:23 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

That's right, of course, depending on what you mean by 'too fast'.

But I'm sure you'd agree that the real threat to the safety, health and convenience of all road users isn't cyclists, even if some of them - us - do ride like idiots.

24.10.2025 15:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It's lucky that car owners aren't at all interested in trying to outdo each other in spec or speed, or the streets could get quite dangerous.

24.10.2025 12:44 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Lycra is a very practical thing to wear if you have a longer commute. Perhaps these lucky Danes don't have to go far to get where they're going. (What's wrong with Lycra anyway? And dropped handlebars?).

23.10.2025 18:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

That's true.

I think in the present case it's important to be clear that a cluster that is being portrayed as somehow 'difficult' or 'unfamiliar' because it occurs in an 'exotic' name is neither difficult nor unfamiliar to English speakers. Why is "Mamdani" hard but, say, "dumb Donnie" isn't? πŸ˜‰

23.10.2025 13:24 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

If all /md/ sequences have a morpheme or word boundary in the middle, then none should be harder than any other. And since the tongue isn't used for /m/, the articulatory naturalness of [nd] vs. [md] is moot. English contrasts pairs like 'scanned'~'scammed', so /md/ is clearly perceptually OK too.

23.10.2025 07:52 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Monosyllabic words that end with /md/ are common in English, so I don't think it's true to say that English speakers aren't accustomed to producing the sequence, even if they might say they find it 'hard'. Are seemed, slimmed, claimed, stemmed, jammed, armed, bombed, roamed, or zoomed 'hard' words?

22.10.2025 21:52 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I don't suppose anyone who claims it's hard to say /md/ in the name 'Mamdani' would say that the same sequence in, for example, 'someday' or 'Camden' is difficult, but I take the point.

(You don't use your tongue to make an /m/ sound, for what it's worth, but again I take the point).

22.10.2025 21:15 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
This is a screenshot of the volume cover.

The Oxford Handbook of Language & Prejudice, edited by Jane Setter, Sender Dovchin, & Vijay A. Ramjattan

The cover art shows a green balloon with "kein mensch ist illegal" written on it.

This is a screenshot of the volume cover. The Oxford Handbook of Language & Prejudice, edited by Jane Setter, Sender Dovchin, & Vijay A. Ramjattan The cover art shows a green balloon with "kein mensch ist illegal" written on it.

The Oxford Handbook of Language & Prejudice, edited by Jane Setter, Sender Dovchin, and yours truly, rearticulates and expands upon the connections between language and prejudice.

It is available for pre-order, so please ask your university or local library to order a copy:

shorturl.at/gDhJA

12.03.2025 15:02 β€” πŸ‘ 80    πŸ” 36    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 6
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English Accents and Dialects | An Introduction to Social and Regional English Accents and Dialects is an essential guide to contemporary social and regional varieties of English spoken in the British Isles today. Together with

It's not the most recent source out there, but you might find the recordings that accompany this book of some use.

www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/1...

15.10.2025 21:39 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
IDEA: International Dialects of English Archive Welcome to IDEA, the internet's best source for primary-source recordings of English-language dialects and accents as heard around the world.

There's plenty of material in the IDEA archive:

www.dialectsarchive.com

15.10.2025 21:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Accent bias as a barrier to social mobility | ABI

I gave a keynote on accent bias and social mobility at the ABI (Assoc. of British Insurers) last week. Alongside my keynote, they invited me to write a blog post on our work which you can now read below:

www.abi.org.uk/news/blog-ar...

15.10.2025 10:40 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 3