Re: CONLANG Digest - 8 May

Muke Tever wrote:
> Actually /hw/ is rather 'logical' (even ignoring spelling) as "who" isn't
> /wu/, but /hu/, which you'd expect from its w assimilating[?] to u.
Just as, earlier, Old English _hwu:_ became _hu:_, or in modern
spelling, _how_, which is why it's the one orthographic exception to the
"wh-words".  Unfortunately, the orthography of "who" had been
established before the Great Vowel Shift.

In Scots, the usual pronunciation was /xw/, which is why those words
were once spelt there as _quhen_, _quho_, etc.

> Yes but even disregarding _orthography_ the languages are still different.
> Especially if you take into account that not all British English is RP.
Right, but I was referring solely to the written forms.  In writing
there is very little difference between the two dialects.  In speach,
there are rather large differences, especially between non-RP dialects
and American English.

> Heaven forbid!  At least, not without reforming the _rest_ of English.  (ðô,
> anyone?) ;p
A complete spelling reform would be Pure Evil [to use my new favorite
phrase :-)], it would cut us off from earlier literature.  All earlier
literature would have to be reprinted in the new spelling, and everyone
would have to relearn to read!  Yuck!  Small changes, like "tho",
"nite", "dout", "det", "iland" are more reasonable.  Maybe over a
century or so, if we were determined enough, a complete orthographic
reform could be made, with occasional small changes to deal with new
changes.  But that'll never happen, I'm sure.

> Through's silent -ugh I anyway intend to keep until the day I tell my
> "datter" she shouldn't stay out at "nite".
All or nothing, eh?

> Maybe it's just me, dissimilating /s/ or something, but that initial s just
> looks so naked out there.
Really?  It exists in plenty of English words, like "small".

> Sure, /kv/ isn't too hard (it's as easy as /qu/, but more unfamiliar)
Not really.  /kw/ in English is [kw_0], with the /w/ devoiced.  But
there's a phonemic contrast between /v/ and /f/, so you can't assimilate
voice, you have to switch voicing in the middle of the cluster, /kv/.  I
personally can't manage it without either partially voicing the /k/ (to
make [kgv]) or devoicing the /v/ to make /kf/, or adding a schwa to make
/k@v/.

> If you think _this_ Eastern country's monarch is difficult, wait till you
> meet the next's tsar!
But _tsar_ is always pronounced /zar/, at least by everyone *I've* ever
heard.

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