Re: The status of the glottal stop in Hebrew

Dan Sulani scripsit:

>     But I'm not so sure that an English speaker would notice the
> difference, given that (IIRC) English words which are perceived by
> naive native speakers as beginning with a vowel,  usually actually begin
> with a glottal stop! (There are probably dialects to the contrary,
> but I can't, offhand,  think of any.)
Mine, for sure.  I had to consciously learn to make initial glottal stops
when learning German, and I think it is regularly taught to people learning
German, not just me.  I definitely say [T&rIz@n'&pl=], not [T&r?Iz?@n'?&pl=]
for "that is an apple".

--
John Cowan  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com  jcowan@reutershealth.com
[T]here is a Darwinian explanation for the refusal to accept Darwin.
Given the very pessimistic conclusions about moral purpose to which his
theory drives us, and given the importance of a sense of moral purpose
in helping us cope with life, a refusal to believe Darwin's theory may
have important survival value. --Ian Johnston

Reply