Dominic Watt

@domwatt.bsky.social

703 Followers 543 Following

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.

A smew (Mergellus albellus)
Waterfall in a mossy ravine on the Logan Burn in the Green Cleugh valley, Pentland Hills Regional Park, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Professor Peter French of J P French International (forensic speech and audio analysis laboratory, based in York, UK). Prof. French has acted as an expert witness in hundreds of cases for courts around the world, some of which he will discuss in the BBC's forthcoming series of 'Expert Witness' (BBC1 TV, iPlayer).
View of southern Scottish Highlands from near Balerno, City of Edinburgh. The peaks (left to right) of Stùc a' Chroin, Ben Vorlich and Meall na Feàrna are visible on the far horizon, about 50 miles (80km) away. The hill in the middle distance is Dumyat, some 30 miles (50km) distant.
Cover image of Volume 3 of Mouton de Gruyter's 'Varieties of English' handbook series, 'The Pacific and Australasia' (2008).
A red grouse (Lagopus scotica) using its alarm call to encourage me to leave
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)).
787. h is occasionally dropped in initial unstressed syllables of longer words, such as horizon, historical, hotel. Thus it would be quite usual to pronounce on the horizon, from the historical point of view as ɔn ði əˈraizn, frəm ði isˈtɔrikl pɔint ə(v) vjuː. Those who pronounce the h in hotel when said by itself would often drop it in a good hotel ə ˈgud ouˈtel.
787. h is occasionally dropped in initial unstressed syllables of longer words, such as horizon, historical, hotel. Thus it would be quite usual to pronounce on the horizon, from the historical point of view as ɔn ði əˈraizn, frəm ði isˈtɔrikl pɔint ə(v) vjuː. Those who pronounce the h in hotel when said by itself would often drop it in a good hotel ə ˈgud ouˈtel.
An Oystercatcher flying (or possibly a puffin carrying a carrot).
Map of distribution of Oystercatcher in UK and Ireland from website of Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, rspb.org.uk
Extract from the 'Style and References' webpage of Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press) specifying that "OUP generally requires the use of the... Oxford English spellings (-ize / -ization / -izing)."
A map of Australia and the southwest Pacific region showing languages in which the voiced retroflex approximant ɻ is used.
Shopping bag on a park bench in Berlin, Germany, marked with the words "I'll Be Bag".
Close-up image of map of Scotland with place names shown in Scots, produced by Stewart Bremner.
Stand displaying 'NØ'-brand cosmetic products in a Berlin pharmacy store.