LL-L 'History' 2006.07.08 (11) [E]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
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L O W L A N D S - L * 08 July 2006 * Volume 11
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology  

We've been talking about /au/ -> [aI] in Southern English, and I wrote:

> As for /au/ being pronounced [aI], Welsh connection was just a wild stab on my
> part, given that Welsh written _au_ (assumedly once pronounced *[aU], perhaps
> still in Middle Welsh) is pronounced [ai] in the north and [a1] in the south.
> Welsh has obviously undergone an extensive high unrounding process, often
> preceded by a fronting process, much like fareastern Germanic varieties have in
> Slavonic environments, e.g., Mennonite Low Saxon (Plautdietsch) and Yiddish, not
> to mention many other Low Saxon and German dialects (e.g., Old German /ou/ > *oü
> > E.Yidd. [Oi] (but Baltic Yidd. [OU]) as in הויז _hoyz_ 'house', and Old German
> /u(u)/ > *ü(ü) > [i(:)] (Baltic Yidd. [u(:)]) גוט _gut_ [gi(:)t] 'good'. Apart
> from foreign influence or lack thereof, I think this has something to do not only
> with lip formation but also with jaw fronting, and I can see how this can occur
> sporadically or can be caused or favored by contacts with languages in which this
> took place. 

Just now I took a break and watched a British show about architectural antiques
salvage in which one guy pronounced /au/ (as in "cow") as [EY] and /ou/ (as in
"low") as [3Y]; e.g., _out_ [EYt], _now_ [nEY], _stone_ [st3Yn], _low_ [l3Y]. 
[Y] is like short _ü_ as in German _Glück_ and Turkish _üzüm_, just used as a
semi-vowel here.  Even in Standard German some people use it that way; while some
pronounce _euch_ as [?OIC] others pronounce it as [?OYC], and _Häuser_ can be
["hOIz@`] or ["hOYz@`], the second variant of each being rounded throughout.

This seems to be the missing link.

By the way, the show was set in Brighton, but no one else had that pronunciation
in the report.  By the sound of it, it definitely was a very southern dialect (as
in "south coast dialect"), perhaps from an area near Brighton.  Or might the
speaker have been the only born and raised Brighton lad in the bunch?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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