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TONGUE-TWISTER

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | | Copyright

TONGUE-TWISTER. A sentence, phrase, or rhyme that is difficult to pronounce, especially when said quickly. The difficulty is usually caused by ALLITERATION: the presence of similar-sounding consonants interspersed with a variety of vowels, as in Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. Such tongue-twisters may be accidental or deliberately used for especially comic effect. They became particularly popular in the 19c as rhymes designed to cause pronunciation problems and elocutionists used examples like Truly rural and She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore to improve enunciation.

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TOM McARTHUR. "TONGUE-TWISTER." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "TONGUE-TWISTER." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-TONGUETWISTER.html

TOM McARTHUR. "TONGUE-TWISTER." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-TONGUETWISTER.html

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tongue-twister

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

tongue-twist·er • n. a sequence of words or sounds, typically of an alliterative kind, that are difficult to pronounce quickly and correctly, as, for example, tie twine to three tree twigs. DERIVATIVES: tongue-twist·ing adj.

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"tongue-twister." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"tongue-twister." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-tonguetwister.html

"tongue-twister." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-tonguetwister.html

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