Re: Conlang Christmas

Hi!

Benct Philip Jonsson writes:
> On 29.12.2007 Henrik Theiling wrote:
>>    Þélk Nátli eð bon nó önn!
>>
>> This is pronounced as follows:
>> :  [TjEKk 'naU)htlI E: bo@):n noU): 9n]
>
> I can't remember ever having seen [o@)] for /o:/ described
> for Icelandic. The closest thing I can remember is [o@)] for
> _á_ in Faroese. Is this a deliberate difference between
> Þrjótrunn and Icelandic pronunciation, or something you've
> actually heard colloquially? An effect of the following
> nasal perhaps?
No, no sandhi, it sounds like that in most (all?) positions to me.  My
main source would be Magnús Péturson's recordings which I have
accompanying a course book of Icelandic.  This is the clearest
recording of Icelandic I have listened to, apart from several movies
with somewhat more real-life Icelandic.  The Icelandic /o:/ sounds
very different from German /o:/ to me, the later I would indeed
transscribe as [o:].  This may be L1 bias, of course.  But German /o:/
does sound like a very pure version of a non-changing, long vowel to
me, while the Icelandic version sounds like becoming laxer towards its
end.  The increasing laxness I tried to express by using [o@)].  The
[@] part is brief; the [o] is strongly prevailing.

What transscriptions have you encountered?

**Henrik

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