Re: OT: Dutch pronunciation questions

Jan van Steenbergen wrote:


> --- John wrote:
>
>> > |eu| usually changes into |ui| [Ey].
From "correct"  |ui| [9H] to [EH] is simply loss of rounding in the first
component.

There is an interesting phenomenon known as "misphasing of rounding"--
instead of a "correct/prescribed" round-unround diphthong sequence, you get
unround-round.  We encountered this in Acehnese, where the dictionary writes
"o e-breve" [o@]-- oddly, the reflex of word-final *i-- but the informant
had [@U].  (Acehnese phonology is a wonderment-- *t@lu 'three' > | lhe
e-breve | = [l_0(@)'he@]. )

If we apply this to Engl. words, we might get things like /haws/ > [hojs],
/boj/ > [bEU].  Interesting direction for a "Future English"????  Some
dialects already dissimilate /aj/ to [Oj ~Qj] and /aw/ to [{U].  The former
seems to be a feature of "Larchmont lockjaw", sort of upper-class Eastern
drawl; the latter seems to be more prevalent-- growl [gr{Ul].

Of course in "correct" (my dictionary) Dutch the entire diphthong  |ui| is
supposed to be rounded "[oe-lig y]" =  SAMPA [9H]?, so it's not quite
relevant here-- and quite close to what John heard....
>> While traveling on the Rhine, I heard the word "sluis" repeatedly
>> pronounced [sl2Hs]; is this the same thing in reverse, or what?
>
The Americanization of Dutch names with "-sluis", "-huis" et sim. would curl
your ears-- [slojs, slajs, slaUs-- hojs, hajs, haUs].  I used to know a man
whose name was even spelled "Vanderslice".

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