Re: 9-phoneme IAL (was Re: Chinese-based IAL?)
| From: | Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, February 26, 2001, 19:13 |
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At 11:26 pm +0100 25/2/01, Jörg Rhiemeier wrote:
[....]
>>
>> Or is 'Geoff' pronounced differently on each side of the Atlantic?
>
>Well, I thought that "Geoff" was pronounced [dZOf], but I might be
>misled.
Ah - certainly in Britain "Geoff" is pronounced /dZEf/ and is short for
"Geoffrey" /'dZEfri/. It's one those traditional English names, retaining
outdated (usually Norman) spelling. A more 'modern' Jeff, Jeffrey also
exists.
I suppose it's not dissimilar to the retention of the spelling _gaol_ for
/'dZeIl/, which the Americans always write as _jail_ and, indeed, is
increasingly more commonly used here also.
AFAIK the Americans pronounce Geoff the same way as we Brits do.
Ray.
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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
[J.G. Hamann 1760]
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