Re: VW (was: Digest 2 Apr)

On Tue, 10 Apr 2001, Christophe Grandsire wrote:

> Does Dutch use a labiodental approximant for the letter <w>?
Yes. Also for the letter <v>, though <v> is slightly more tense and
in most dialects partially or completely devoiced (which makes it
sound almost exactly like <f>). The difference between my /v/ and
/f/, for instance, is *only* that /v/ is lax and /f/ is tense if I'm
speaking carefully; neither has any voicing at all.

Southern speakers, like your boyfriend, may use a bilabial
approximant (or even a bilabial semivowel) for <w> in some contexts.

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas

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