Re: Azurian phonology : LONG

I wrote:

> To me it looks, or rather sounds, as if eastern Norwegian, which I
> am reared into, belongs to the Dutch camp. But today I am in Førde,
> and will try to do some experimental linguistics here as I go
> shopping. Likely, the situation is different here.
It wasn't. The voiced stops are very clearly voiced. The unvoiced
clearly unvoiced. Any aspiration is very faint, just as in my own
dialect.

I noticed another thing, btw. Between vowels, the dental stops tend
to be very rhotic.

And tonight I decided to listen to some Gaelic songs. In Mo Run Geal
Og by Flora MacNeal of the Hebrides, the stops were pretty much as
described. Not a trace or almost not a trace of voicing in the b's,
d's and g's, and very strong aspiration in the p's, t's and k's.
However, Enya's Na Laetha Geal M'Óige, the distinction isn't that
clear at all. Aspiration is not that pronounced, and there is a
delicate, but distinct voice in the voiced stops. Enya is from
Donegal, Ireland, so I guess either the voicing contrast isn't as
levelled in Ireland as in Scotland, or there are regional differences
within the countries, or the Irish (or Enya in particular) is
influenced more by English, perhaps.

I must say the delicate voicing of the Irish voiced stops contributes
much to the beauty of the language. And if all linguistic studies had
been as enjoyable as the ones I've done tonight, I'd go in for a
linguistic career right away!

LEF

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