Re: NATLANG: Ukrainian question

On 6/11/06, Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...> wrote:
> This is one of the most controversial issues of Ukrainian phonology.
Of course it is.  Why wouldn't a straightforward question like "how do
you pronounce phoneme X" be fraught with complexities? :)

> Too much politics, too little linguistics, when talking about Ukrainian...
No kidding.  I have an elderly Ukrainian next-door neighbor, who as a
child lived in a German-friendly part of her country; her father sent
her off with some retreating German soldiers to keep her safe from the
Russians, and she wound up spending several years in an Austrian
prison camp.

At any rate, she has no affection for Russians, and no willingness to
communicate in their language, despite the fact that she understands
it perfectly well.  Her English is . . . well, it's far better than my
Ukrainian, but I'm endeavoring to get better.

> -- Yitzik who dares to pronounce B as [B_o] vs. [u_^] while living in Kiev
Blasphemy!  But that's "Kyiv", surely? :)

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>