Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

OT: /x\/ (was: English and front rounded vowels)

From:John Vertical <johnvertical@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 11, 2007, 13:43
>Mr Veoler skrev: > > Mark J. Reed wrote: > >> It came up because I have a Swedish coworker named Skold, > >> and I just found out that it's really Sköld /j\2ld/ (not > >> sure about the CXS for the sje-sound) - the Swedish word > >> for "shield". > > > > As for my 'lect, I pronounce the initial consonant in > > "sköld" as [x]. > >Don't all sensible people? ;-) > >But seriously the 'sj-sound' is the most variable of all >Swedish phonemes. I think most people nowadays have [X] -- >the Swedish sound is much backer and raspier than Russian >[x] -- but a large minority have [S] or [s`] and thus merger >with /rs/ -- to them _försköna_ 'beautify' and _försöka_ >'attempt' are an /n/--/k/ minimal pair! --, while some have >[XS)] aka [x\], the radio announcers' pronunciation of >choice, and still others have [x\p\)] with *three* >obstructions of the vocal tract, which was my father's >pronunciation, and some have [X_w] as I do. > >I'd still recommend English speakers to use their /S/ for >the 'sj-sound' and their /tS/ for the 'tj-sound'. While >clearly a foreign accent (except to Finland-Swedes) it >precludes misunderstanding.
>Benct Philip Jonsson
BTW, would you happen to kno if anyone actually labiodentalizes the sound anymore? Lingual details aside ([s`_P] ~ [f_G]...), that's what, over here in Finland, is AIUI thought of as the "pedantical" pronunciation. (While, as you say, "everyone sensible" here uses [S] ~ [s\] ~ [s`].) John Vertical

Reply

Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>