Re: French and German (jara: An introduction)

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