LL-L "Phonology" 2007.10.24 (08) [E]

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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
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L O W L A N D S - L  -  24 October 2007 - Volume 08
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2007.10.24 (01) [E]

 Hi Ingmar

Subject: LL-L "Phonology"

Thanks, Ingmar

I understand that Afr ui > y, uu > ie etc, but what exactly is the
difference between i and u in pit vs put, kul vs kil etc? In my ears, Afr .
short i sounds more like Dutch short u [2], than like Dutch short i [e].
So in that case, no unrounding but rounding?

You'll have to get the boffins to tidy this up, but given the graphic
representation of the vocal areas of the mouth - draw the mouth sideways &
divide the inside twice vertically & horisontally into nine spaces. The
tongue & lips move the acoustic area up & down, backward & forward for the
different vowel-sounds (I am making this explanation not because you don't
know better, but because I don't) & I expect the boffins are having fits. I
am not a master of IPA

Anyhow, the front vowels are spoken close to the teeth, from high to low, as
in the English 'pick', 'bed' & 'sad'. For the back vowels you must draw the
lips forward to deepen the acoustic space. These from top to bottom in
English sound like 'book', 'oar' & 'pot'. The midmost vowel of all is the
schwa. The middle lower vowel is how the southern English, not the Northern
English, pronounce 'us'. The middle upper vowel is one my wife can't
pronounce, between 'pick' & 'book'. Afrikaans writes this as 'U' & 'UU' as
in 'u en uwe' = you & yours & 'vuur'= fire. I suspect this 'Y' in English
'lyttle' used to be sounded the same way. The best an Englishman can do is
'i enn eever' & 'ffeeeRR'

Right. If you round the schwa space (pout your lips to say it) you get a
slightly different middle - unemphatic - vowel sound, which Afrikaans uses
as  'put' = waterhole, 'kus' = coast, 'rus' = rest, 'sus' = lull etc.
Another sound my wife can't pronounce. Conceded, a non-native speaker might
have to listen for it.

The difficulty is most evident with vocal glides upward or downward. Where
an Afrikaner would say "'n puik pruik" = a smart wig my wife, no doubt under
the cultural influence of Yiddish, says "a poyk proyk" & most Poms (sooo
sorry, fellahs, about the rugby hey!) "a pake prake". & for our "'n meeu in
die sneeu" they would try "a meeow ern dee sneeow" (this notwithstanding
that English *has* 'meeu' but pronounces it rather shorter, more like
'myou').

I hope this serves for an explanation. I am well aware that the nine-space
vocal graphic is inadequate for all but Standard English & useless for any
other language.

Have fun
Mark

•

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