Re: Danish: tonal suffices?

Oskar Gudlaugsson skrev:

>>From: Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...>
>>Subject: Re: Danish: tonal suffices?
>>Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 15:07:26 +0200
>
>>Then the book I mentioned is a definite must for you. There is a chapter
>>in the book dedicated to current developments in Danish phonology and
>>hints at what Danish could sound like in the future if the developments
>>continue. I can list them down if you want.
>
>If it's not too much work for you, I'd be very grateful for a short list :)
>(searching linguistic works on something interesting can take a *very* long
>time; linguists are the least user-friendly writers I have seen yet among
>academic authors ;) (oh yeah, _especially_ linguists writing about IE - I
>don't know if I'll ever find any accessible text about the language).
The book I mentioned is user-friendly. It has to be since its a
beginners' textbook for Danish phonology students.

Anyways, here are the developments noted in the book. Note that it
is based on the Copenhagen national standard and on observations
made by the author in 1998. Note also that not all of the developments
observed are necessarily binding. Some may become standardized while
others may just abstain from developing further and just disappear:

VOWEL LENGTH
_Lengthening of Short Vowels_
This is especially the case with the low vowels. It is not clear
whether this is going to spread to high vowels. We are in a period
where phonemic length is not stable. If the development persists,
and if it affects all vowel qualities, then long and short vowels
will merge in bisyllabic words. This merging will not directly
affect monosyllabic words however, since long vowels in such words
have stød.

_Uncertainty Before [D w j Q] in Bisyllabic Words with /-VC@(C)/
Structure_ (NB.: [Q] is non-syllabic)
[D]: It seems that all vowels are short before [D]. On the other
hand, there is also the lengthening of short vowels mentioned
above. So 'hede, hedde' and 'geder, gedder' are merging. It is not
clear how this is going to stabilize in the future.
[w]: Before only long vowels occured before [w]. But these are now
shortened. Here again, the general lengthening of short vowels can
play a role here, and only time can tell how this is going to
stabilize.
[j] =/g/: Same remarks as above for [w].
[j] =/j/: Before there were only two short vowels [A OE)] (that is,
/E ø/). They are now lengthened.
[Q]: Before there was contrastive length, but now, all vowels are
long.

_'Stylistic Shortening of Long Vowels Resulting from the Fusion
with /r/_
Vowels that have become long by fusing /r/ may optionally be
shortened in the same manner as long vowels in monosyllabic words
ending with [D? j? w? Q?]. So 'sorg, borg' and 'sov, bov' may
merge.


SHORT /a/ > [æ]
The norm was that /a:/ was pronounced [æ:] while /a/ was [a] (when
not contiguous with /r/). But the characteristic Copenhagen /a/ as
[æ] is entering the national standard. Combined with the lengthening
of short vowels discussed earlier, some words are merging.


R-COLOURING
/rE/ = /ra/ before dental and labial consonants.
/ru(:)/ = /ro(:)/
/Er/ > [æ:], /oe)r/ > [OE):]


LOSS OF SYLLABLE-FINAL /r/ BEFORE A STRESSED SYLLABLE


LOSS OF SYLLABLE-FINAL SEMIVOWELS
Combined with the lowering of /E:/ before /r/ results in the merging
of 'bærer' and 'bager' [bæ:Q].


HEAVY VELARIZATION OF [D]
[D] has always had a certain degree of velarization, but it is much
stronger now among the youths of Copenhagen. The strong velarization
gives [D] a common feature with [w], and when they become contiguous
because of schwa-assimilation, then it seems that the velarization of
[D] weakens the rounding of [w] such that [w] is 'swallowed'. So
'levet, skrevet' = 'ledet, skredet' [le:D=  sgRæ:D=].


THE STØD
Some words whose structure normally prohibits stød have stød, and vice
versa.

OTHER
/E/ > [e] before a nasal
/O/ > [oe)]
/øj/ > [OE)j] > [Qj]  This means, combined with short vowel lengthening
and schwa assimilation, that 'loddet, odde' = 'odde, øjet'.


I really suggest you get the book. Its much more detailed for your needs
and the ASCII-IPA used here can be a nightmare to sort out.

-kristian- 8)