Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: 1. YAESR

From:Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>
Date:Tuesday, April 19, 2005, 18:11
On Monday, April 18, 2005, at 11:00 , Joe wrote:
[snip]
> Well, Welsh and English have a pleasantly similar phonology, with the > odd exception (Welsh doesn't have [tS] or [dZ], or [z], English doesn't > have [K] or [r_h], or [x] natively). I spelt [tS] and [dZ] as well as I > could, within the Welsh orthography (I didn't make it up, of course. > See Welsh 'jwg'(jug) and 'garej'(garage),
Yep - nowadays, all but the purists recognized both the letter |j| and the sound [dZ] as Welsh. The position of [S] is more problematic; in English borrowings it is simply |s| if final, e.g. _ffres_ and, of course [tS] is even more problematic :) [snip]
> And <z> is a letter so alien to Welsh
Note quite - in south Walian one does occasionally come across _zw^_ (z + circumflexed-w) "zoo" for the more standard _sw^_ :) [snip]
> to <u>, and turning into [I] to match the English phonology.
Which is the way short |i| is pronounced in Welsh, as well as English :)
> Apart from > that, I'd say that it's pretty faithful.
Um - the diphthongs are a bit out also. For example, being used to actual Welsh _beic_ [b@jk] = 'bike' I found it a bit odd for English _bake_ (which in 'Welsh English' is pronounced [be:k]) - your transcription made me read the thing with a London accent :) But I do agree that of all the orthographies used on our island, Welsh is the most nearly phonemic - and, as a satire, it was funny. ============================================= On Monday, April 18, 2005, at 11:50 , Tim May wrote: [snip]
> (You pronounce "one" [wQn]?)
I can't speak for Joe, but one does hear [wQn] from some Brit speakers. But I, being born & bred in Sussex, say [wVn]. But the spelling _wyn_ would suggest [ujn] in Welsh, as in _wyneb_ "face, surface". _wysg_ "direction", _wyth_ 'eight" etc. Ray =============================================== http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown ray.brown@freeuk.com =============================================== Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight, which is not so much a twilight of the gods as of the reason." [JRRT, "English and Welsh" ]

Reply

Joe <joe@...>