I think an important difference between "isst" and "ist" is that "isst"
tends to be stressed and "ist" tends to be weak. I bet "man ist was man
isst" (one is what one eats) and "man isst was man ist" (one eats what one
is) are not homophonous.
A parallel in English might be the difference between "too" or "two" and
"to". Stressed "too" and "two" are truly homophonous and there are jokes
exploiting this homonomy; but "to", though consisting of the same sequence
of segmental phonemes, is hardly ever pronounced in such a way that anyone
might wonder whether "to" or "too/two" was intended.
--Ken
--- Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:
> There are linguistic rules and there are exceptions to them. In dynamic
> speech
> one can choose to create all kinds of effects by deliberately ignoring
> or violating all kinds of rules.
>
> Fritz
>
> I don't think before stops you can have a long/short or fortis/lenis
> contrast.
>
> Robert
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Fritz Goerling
> To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 1:27 AM
> Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Re: lexical entries as singulars or plurals
>
>
> For me they are identical in pronunciation in normal speech. Maybe
> an actor or someone
> who recites poetry might exaggerate and make the difference by
> hissing the double "s".
> Or someone who wants to emphasize the difference in this little
> saying might just put more
> stress on the "isst." Or there is a discussion where someone says
> "Man ist was man liest"
> (One is what one reads) to which someone more given to the pleasures
> of the palate might
> reply "Nein, man ist was man ISST" (No, one is what one eats).
>
> Fritz Goerling
> Fritz Goerling wrote:
> > the point of the little world-play is in the similar-sounding
> > "ist" (= is) and "isst" (= eats).
>
> Are they similar sounding, or identical? If different, what is
> the
> difference? (I vaguely recall my German prof claiming that they
> were
> pronounced differently, but not being able to hear any diff. Of
> course,
> that was before my linguistics days.)
> --
> Mike Maxwell
> Linguistic Data Consortium
> maxwell at ldc.upenn.edu
>
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