Re: Number

On Monday, August 6, 2001, at 05:16 AM, Henrik Theiling wrote:

>> but isn't 'ich' [IC]? Rammstein pronounces it as [IS], which i've
>> assumed is
>> their dialect's reflex of [IC], and when i learnt german, i learnt to say
>> [IC], blah blah blah
>
> Ach, bach!  Yes, yes, no, no, I mixed them up.  It is exactly the
> other way around.  My goodness.  And additional to front vowels,
> consonants trigger [C] as well.  So the corrected version is:
>
>     [a], [a:], [U], [u:], [O], [o:] + [x]
>     others (including consonants)   + [C]
>
Thank you.  :-)  That makes more sense to me now.  And [IS] for "ich" *is*
  acceptable in some dialects?  I had begun to wonder since I've heard both
[IC] and [IS] from my fiance.

I really should get his German grandparents to teach me something
resembling proper pronunciation, but whenever I see them I'm too
embarrassed even to try.  There's something about being around native
speakers...<G>

>  - -chs- is always [ks] if there is no morpheme boundary
>    between -ch- and -s-:
>       der Dachs   [daks]
>       des Fachs   [faxs]  (gen.sg. of `Fach')
>
<profoundly relieved look>  You mean all that time I was sitting there
strangling on -chs- in those one-syllable words it was unnecessary?  <G>

Okay, I'm really beginning to be with the "IPA in every grammar!" people.
My ear just isn't good enough to pick up these things off a cassette when
I'm half asleep....

>  - word-initial /ch/ is not predictable and varies in
>    dialects between [C] and [k] ([x] is not possible):
<squirm>  God, my accent's even worse than I thought it was...I sure
*attempted [x].  I think my housemate last year was right when he said my
pronunciation of just about *anything* (but Japanese or Korean...) was
atrocious and if no one told me I'd just keep on doing it...but dammit, I
can run rings around him in grammar, not that it helps when you actually
have to talk to someone.  <laugh>

Thanks for all the clarifications--now I must go work on my pronunciation
again, assuming I don't get a sore throat first.  <G>

YHL

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