Re: German and English (was Re: Losing languages ...)
| From: | Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Monday, September 29, 2003, 5:02 |
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On Saturday, September 27, 2003, at 09:59 , BP Jonsson wrote:
> At 14:53 25.9.2003 -0400, John Cowan wrote:
>
>> > English: *stain > *sta:n > *stO:n > sto:n > stOun > st@Un
>>
>> Of course, the numerically largest dialect is conservative here and
>> doesn't make it through the last transition.
>
> In the early 20th century there were extreme RP speakers (mostly or
> exlusively male) who even had [E@]. That however was too extreme
> and receded.
Yes indeed. But in the colloquial speech of north Surrey, where I now
live, the sound is entirely unrounded and centralized [@1] ; to those
unused to it, "coat" sounds distinctly like "kite"!
> I'm of course a bloody furriner and waver between [ow] and [o:]
> depending on level of concentration.
A lot of native born Brits use [o:] :-)
It's normal in "Welsh English" as well as most (all?) regions of
north England as well as the Scottish Highlands.
Ray
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