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Re: French and German (jara: An introduction)

From:Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>
Date:Tuesday, June 10, 2003, 19:17
Hi!

Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> writes:
> Quoting Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>: > > ... Obviously, I > > should be more careful when reasoning about Standard German from > > examinig my own pronunciation. > > I've walked into a couple of minefields over the same issue with regard to > standard Swedish ... I know how you feel!
Ok, I'm glad I'm not the only one.
> > However, my point about the half-long (or long, probably depending on > > dialect again) [o] instead of short [O]. > > I don't doubt you, but I've never noticed this. Probably hearing Swedish > phonology were I should be hearing German!
Well, that is really very definitely phonemically long. I never heard it with short [O].
> > Oh, it's not pointless when you want to stress how different the > > pronunciation is between different languages in Europe. :-) > > Yes it is; outsiders won't know that /x/ varies between [C] and [x] in German, > but that /S/ is consistently [x] in (my version of) Swedish.
To be picky again, it varies between [C] and [X]. It is often described that [x] is the back articulation but I'm extremely certain that with [x], you will sound to have a Slavic accent to almost every German. :-) Maybe some people have [x] after /U/, /u:/, /O/, /o:/ (I judge those are few, though), but after /a/ and /a:/, it's certainly [X]: 'Bach' [baX]. Speaking of me, I don't have [x] at all. Sorry for going on in a thread about phonetic details, but I like the details, really. :-) **Henrik