Re: English sounds `v' and `w'

J. 'Mach' Wust wrote:

>On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 14:44:08 +0100, Chris Bates
><chris.maths_student@...> wrote:
>
>
>
>>This might be a bad suggestion, but if you're trying to get w right you
>>might try pronouncing /u/ (I assume hindi has this sound?) and then
>>shortening it as much as possible... in some languages (the romance
>>languages spring to mind), u has become similar to an english w in some
>>positions in words, and if I try pronouncing /uest/ for west and then
>>shortening the /u/ as much as possible it gets to the point where it
>>sounds almost exactly like west is normally pronounced to me. :)
>>
>>
>
>I've always thought that [w] is the same as [u_ˆ] (unsyllabic [u]) and [j]
>the same as [i_ˆ], the choice depending rather on phonemic considerations.
>
>
That's because it is. Apparently, though, historically, it was the other
way round: IE. *[u] is *[w=], and *[i] is *[j=].