Re: dutch ipa

 --- Mike Ellis skrzypszy:

> http://suzsoiz.free.fr/dutch.jpg
Funny things you can find on the net.

> The scan is from an old 1950 "van Goor's Engels Zakwoordenboek" . I find
> the use of _'s_ a bit odd. How common is that in Dutch? I've heard of the
> use of postposed _z'n_ (zijn) or _d'r_ (haar) to accompish something
> similar to English _'s_, but haven't seen _'s_ itself. I need to study more
> Dutch.
Well, the apostrophe can have two functions in Dutch:

1.
It replaces one or more letters that theoretically exist but are not
pronounced. In many cases this it is used to represent spoken language in
literature.
Examples (apart from the one you give):
m'n (mijn "my")
's nachts (des nachts "at night")
't weer (het weer "the weather")
'n boek (een boek "a book")
Basically, this is what English does in cases like: I'm, I'd, you've, can't,
etc.

2.
It is used between words that end in certain vowels and the plural or genitive
ending -s, in order to prevent the open vowel to become closed.
For example: piano -> piano's; aria -> aria's; kolibri -> kolibri's.

In the case of "Van Goor's" I can think of two possibilities: either the
apostrophe belonged to older spelling convention, or, which seems more likely
to me, it was added to prevent people from thinking that the name would be "Van
Goors" instead of "Van Goor".

> I also find the word "kaakopening" hilarious. Sorry.
It sounds slighly old-fashioned, but it is not incorrect.

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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