Re: i-Mutation

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 10:24:20 +0100, Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:

>Quoting "Pascal A. Kramm" <pkramm@...>:
>
>> On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 09:55:09 -0400, Yann Kiraly <yann_kiraly@...> wrote:
>>
>> >Does anybody have an Idea into what sound an i could mutate
>> >(a->ä,o->ö,u->ü,e([e]very->ë(German [E]nde))? I am constructing a
>> >language that uses these mutations for grammatical infelction.
>>
>> It could easily become rounded and then be pronounced ü /y/.
>> This has already happened in German with foreign words from English, e.g.
>> "mystery". German doesn't have an y by itself, it exclusively occurs in
>> words imported from foreign languages, and somehow, the y in foreign
>> words (if it's not at the end of the word) which is normally /i/ became
>> rounded and thus /y/ so mystery would be /mysteri/ rather than /misteri/.
>
>This wouldn't relate to the fact those foreign 'y's very often, as in this
>case, derives from a Greek ypsilon, by any chance?
Exactly. I've been told that this is a comparingly recent development of the
German pronunciation, and that until the 19th century, the |y| used to be
pronounced exactly the same way as |i| (as in English or French). So its
pronunciation as /y/ is a cultured pronunciation that has become generalized.

If this is true, then the Swiss standard German habit of pronouncing it as
an /i/ would be an archaism, not only a regional peculiarity (along with
other archaisms like many French words that have dropped out of use in
Germany). In Switzerland, the letter |y| is often called _Y-grecque_
/'i-krek:/ (the French expression for _Greek Y_), not _Ypsilon_ /'Ypsi"lOn/
as in Germany.

kry@s:
j. 'mach' wust

Reply