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sound changes (was Conlangea Dreaming)

From:Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
Date:Friday, October 13, 2000, 18:44
On Fri, 13 Oct 2000, Christophe Grandsire wrote:

> I know a sound change even more sudden, because it happened *during* my > generation: it's the collapse of [9~] and [E~] (written generally 'un' and 'in' > in French) into [E~]. When I arrived at primary school (I was 6), everyone was > still pronouncing them different, even me (at least where I lived). When I > arrived in senior high school (I was 16), the difference had disappeared, even > in my own idiolect! I can still pronounce them differently, but if I don't pay > attention I just pronounce them the same (but after having thought of those > sounds, I'm going to pronounce them differently again for a few hours, without > really paying attention :) ). I really lived through a sound change! (and what
[snip] <despair> You mean all that time my French teacher was nitpicking over the difference between the two, they were going away anyway? Mon Dieu... Sometimes I really wonder if the language that I learn in the classroom is going to be any good for communication with Real People who are L1 speakers of that language. YHL