Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Germans have no /w/ etc.

From:Tristan Mc Leay <kesuari@...>
Date:Wednesday, June 9, 2004, 21:32
Carsten Becker wrote:

> LOL, I had a classmade who pronounced [T] and [D] even as [f] and [v]! > (What an interesting sound change ;))
Perfectly normal. The Russians used to have a letter called fita which the used IIUC for Greek theta. Brits do it all the time, too, as do some Australians (but it's much rarer here then there).
> Later, he switched to [s] and [z], > as many Germans (mis)pronounce it. He wasn't very good at languages, > anyway, which supports my thesis. Also, it's a shame for my English > teacher that she isn't able to distinguish /T/ from /s/. How shall the > English n00bs in the 5th grade classes where she teaches English learn > how to properly pronounce tee-aidges?
tee-haiches :P (I think I'm missing the justification for the -dg- though?)
> As for me, when speaking fast or being excited because of being called > up, I also mix up [v] and [w]. Voiced |-s| at the end of words is > difficult though, so I mostly don't pronounce it properly. But [T] and > [D] have never been a problem for me. [5] was a bit strange at the > beginning, too, especially for my little brother who nearly pronounced > it like swallowing his tongue ;). I'm not rhotic either. My > pronounciation is mostly British English with some Americanisms I guess > (e.g. [dE:ns] instead of the more seldom heard [da:ns]) and a German > accent shining through.
Non-rhotic plus /&:/ in 'dance' is a perfectly valid (and indeed the most common) Australian pronunciation :) (The British lengthened /a:/ before n only survived regularly in 'aunt' (vs ant /&:nt/) and 'can't'. (Some people do say things like 'Frahnce' and 'Lahnce' though.) But most of the rest remained in tact, so /gla:s/.) -- Tristan.