Re: English: Thou

Dan Jones wrote:
>
> Robert Hailman wrote:
>
> > > Or /D@/, which I believe is used in some English dialects.  Of course,
> > > /Du/ was the Old/Middle English pronunciation, before the Great Vowel
> > > Shift diphthongized it.
> > >
> >
> > That's what I thought originally, but then wouldn't "you" become /jau/
> > at the same time? Unless originally it was pronounced /jo/, or "thou"
> > was stressed and "you" was unstressed. But before the Great Vowel Shift,
> > English spelling of vowels was much more regular then it is now, no?
>
> No, that's actually how it is pronounced in Brum (Birmingham, that is, not
> some Concountry), to quote Harry Endfield "we are considerably richer that
> yaow". It only occurs in Birmingham AFAIK, the rest of the Midlands uses
> "yew" /jIw/ ore something similar.
>
> As to the Great Vowel Shift, /u:/ could become either /au/ or /ju:/, which
> is why tune is pronounced here in the UK as /tju:n/, from an earlier long
> vowel. Being a yank and not being able to speak proper, you wouldn't notice
> this [that was a joke, BTW, not an insult!], I think something like this
Ha ha ha. I get the last laugh: I'm Canadian! HOHOHO! There will be no
more laughing. I'm not saying that I can speak proper, though.

> came up earlier when discussing SHE's guides for the pronunciation of
> Laadan. Why /ju:/ sometimes occured and not /au/, I don't know. "You"
> obviously developed /ju:/, for previos long u, which was then lost because
> of initial /j/. /tju:n/ may have become so to avoid homophony with town, but
> then I really don't know.
How would one pronounce /jju/? I imagine people wouldn't even bother to
try, and just skip straight to /ju/. I imagine the two would sound the
same, anyways.

I didn't know that it because /u/ became /ju:/. My info is from "The
World's Major Languages", which shows /u/ becoming /au/ only, if I
recall correctly. I have since returned it to the library, but the
diagram of the GVS still sticks in my mind above all else, except for
certain Polish orthographical conventions.

>
> > Maybe I should just pronounce "you" /jau/ out of spite.
>
> Ar, on then come tew Brummidgeum and fit in with the yokels (whoops! I mean
> locals!).
>
Yes, that would be fun. Maybe when I'm in Europe in late August!

--
Robert