Re: German Spelling Reform (fwd)

On Mon, 9 Aug 1999, R. Nierse wrote:

Christophe wrote:

> > By the way, a question for the Dutch of the list. How
> > do you pronounce the -sch at the end of a word (like in historisch)? My
> > handbook says it is pronounced /s/, but in a lesson it pronounces it
> > /S/. And when you add a -e at an adjective which ends with -sch, how do
> > you pronounce it? Still /s@/ (or /S@/), or /sx@/? (just some questions
> > to improve my Dutch - still at the beginning -)
>
> Well, I was quite convinced that it is always [s], as in [hIs'toris], but
> thinking of it makes me doubt. For example, 'yiddisch' is pronounced
> [yIdIS]. At this moment it is the only example I can come up with that is
> pronounced as [S]. Maybe because it is borrowed from German?
> With an -e it is pronounced [s@].
I think Rob is right and it's only in words borrowed from German. And
not even always then - I usually say ['jIdis] and ['jIdis@] (like
[hIs'toris] and [hIs'toris@] for _historisch_, _historische_
"historic(al)".

There was a spelling-reform movement in the seventies or eighties
that wanted to change the -isch ending to -ies, but it never caught
on, and to most people this spelling looks very contrived-left-wing.

   Irina

            Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
                     irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself)
       http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/index.html (English)
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)