Re: The letter R
| From: | Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, March 26, 1999, 21:54 |
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On Fri, 26 Mar 1999, Brian Betty wrote:
> Ed Heil wrote: "Speaking of French Rs, as I remember, Haitian French/Creole
> seemed to me to change the uvular R to a labial approximant (w), so that it
> took me forever to realize that the fellow whose name was pronounced
> "On-Wee" was "Henri.""
>
> Haitian Creole actually DOES change the r > w. In voudoun, great spirit
> lords are referred to as "gwan ange," ie. Great Angels ...
Yep. When I used to listen to a local "Cweol" radio programme here in
Washington (maybe 10 or 15 years ago); that was one thing I noticed about
Creole. The announcer did the show in Creole, French and English; and I
thought it was quite amazing how he switched between the "normal" English
R, the uvular "be careful not to swallow your own throat" French R and the
Creole W.
Padraic.
>
> BB
> *********