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Re: A question on palatalization.

From:Tristan <kesuari@...>
Date:Thursday, January 2, 2003, 13:03
Christophe Grandsire wrote:

>En réponse à Tristan <kesuari@...>: > > > >>However, /nj/ remains as /nj/ (in words like 'news'). Is /nj/ less >>likely to change? (Though come to think of it, the /n/ in 'new' is >>pronounced further back than the /n/ in 'noon' or 'need'.) >> >> >So maybe your /n/ in 'new' is properly palatal [J] instead of being palatalised >[n_j]. That would explain why it doesn't change while your other palatalised >consonants change, and why you feel that it's pronounced further back than the >proper /n/ of 'noon'. >
If anything, it's probably more like [Jj]. It only needs a tiny little [j], but if there's absolutely none, [Ju:] sounds American. I wouldn't go so far as suggesting that [J] was phonemic for me (though my speech is generally slightly conservative in comparison to my peers; I'm more likely to pronounce -ing as /IN/ than /@n/, the reverse is true for my peers, for example).
>>But don't let that put you off. Unless I'm mistaken, English has had >>/dZ/ for some time (in words like 'bridge' < _bricg_, though I think >>the >>OE <cg> was a voiced palatal stop originally?) and took some time to >>develop /Z/.* >> >> >But at the same time didn't English have already /tS/ and /S/? In this case, >even in the absence of /Z/, /dZ/ is not properly solitary. It has /tS/ to keep >it company ;))) . But as somebody pointed out, there's at least one example of >a language with /tS/ without /S/, /Z/ or /dZ/ (at least phonemically): >Castillan Spanish. >
Fair enough then. Thansk for the clarification.
>Well, I answered the point about Old English. In that case, /dZ/ is not really >orphan. As for the vowel inventory, on the other hand, I heartily agree with >you. But it's not for nothing that the English vowel inventory is considered >exceptional ;))) . > >
So what other examples of English's vowels' oddities are there? I realise it's hard/impossible to generalise, but this is probably because of the oddities. Speak of dialects you know! :) Tristan. http://movies.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Movies - What's on at your local cinema?

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Muke Tever <mktvr@...>