Re: Hellenish oddities

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000, Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:

> As to the books I dissed, I understand (though I didn't mention it) that
> they can't be all technical using only IPA. Sometimes I just wish they'd
> more reliably present IPA *with* the approximations. Or perhaps if IPA would
> be taught at school...
<wry g>  Don't I wish.  But then the teachers would have to learn IPA
<gasp, shock>.  I'd *love* IPA with all my books.  Then I could look up
sounds.  OC then some of my books on the same language would disagree and
I'd be confused all over again....

> >What I'd like to see in a pronunciation guide, and haven't yet, is some
> >brief discussion of the rhythms and tones of a language--paralinguistic
> >features, are they called?  The *rhythm* of French, frex, sounds quite
> >different from the rhythm of Korean or German, even if you're not
> >listening to specific sounds--the ups and downs of tones.  Perhaps this
> >is something you just have to pick up by ear, though.
>
> I like this thought. I've only once seen this kind of description in a
> guide, a very technical book on Icelandic. I liked that. But it's kind of
> hard finding accurate linguistic terms to describe the "rhythm".
Borrow terms from music, maybe?  That would be my first inclination, anyway.

YHL