At 1:05 pm +0200 13/9/01, BP Jonsson wrote:
>I've just got hands-on evidence that the /x/ > /f/ sound change as in
>English _tough_ is a natural one:
..and the normal Brit way of pronouncing 'Van Goch' as "van Goff". Of
course that may be in part influenced by the English surname 'Gough' /gQf/
- but that started its life as Welsh _goch_ /go:x/ :)
>In my dialect of Swedish the normal pronunciation of _garage_ is /ga"rA:x/,
>but my son (who is 3 1/2 years old) says /ga"rA:f/ very
>clearly.
Ah yes, proof indeed that anglophones have not been behaving unnaturally :)
Ray.
=========================================
A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
[J.G. Hamann 1760]
=========================================