LL-L "Phonology" 2008.04.17 (01) [E]

Thu Apr 17 16:44:19 UTC 2008

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 17 April 2008 - Volume 01
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From: Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.04.16 (03) [E]

Dear All:

Subject: LL-L "Phonology"

> The neanderthal's
> voice, to be sure, is no belcanto, but I can't quite
> see the difference to
> today's humans' voices. In fact I know people who
> sound like the
> neanderthaler

What worries me is the presumption that fossil records should be presumed to
suffice to that degree to predict a *dissimilarity* in the Neanderthal's
capacity for articulation!

Hear me: What we read down here makes pressing point of the fossil record
extrapolation of the Neanderthal's vocal chords!!! Can I be so wrong in my
averral that vowels are ALL articulated in the mouth with mouth-parts, & all
are involved entirely locating the acoustic space higher or lower, further
forward or back to produce the full vocal range (vocal = vowel).

I insist that a healthy mouth capable of moving a bolus of masticated food
anywhere with the tongue, lips, teeth & soft palate can trap an acoustic
space in the same point, from 'b*e*d' right between the teeth to 'b*a*rd' right
up against the glottis, &, pouting to extend the space, 'b*u*tter', RP
English far down to 'b*u*tter' Northern English right up, with the schwa
between. True, there are some vowels some English for example can't make (or
interpret), but it is a matter of habituation, not structural disability.
They can learn. If an African Grey parrot can manage a full gamut of vowels
& vocal glides, sure as eggs is eggs so could a Neanderthal. I wonder if
those savants that find this presumption hard to take are not suffering from
racial snobbery?

Yrs,
Mark

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Etymology

Dear Lowlanders,

Having listened to a part of the Pope's homile delivered during a mass at
Yankee Stadium today, I was reminded again that what the average US American
considers a "typical" German accent is a Bavarian or an otherwise southern
one, no doubt because of the predominance of Southerners among German
immigrants in this country and because of Americans military personnel's
experience in Southern Germany, which has also been touted as being "typical
Germany" and thus is a major tourism region.

While most German "accent" features are shared by Southerners and
Northerners, I was also reminded that a striking difference between them at
least used to be the pronunciation of the initial "j" sound in English (as
e.g. in "*j*oke" and "*j*eer"). While most Northerners can pronounce it the
general English way, Southerners tend to pronounce it as though it were a
"ch" sound (as e.g. in "*ch*oke" and "*ch*eer"). Being a Bavarian, the
current pope has this southern pronunciation, as has the current governor of
California (Arnold Schwarzenegger, a born and bred Austrian).

I contend that traditionally Northerners do not have this "problem" because
Low Saxon and Missingsch are traditionally used in their environment, and
most of their varieties in the Northern Low Saxon range share this sound
with English (e.g. in *j**ung* 'young' and *Jahr* 'year').

Now, quite a bit of water has flowed under the bridge since my glory days or
yore when we pronounced even "straight" German with a strong Low Saxon
accent.  In general, the Northern accent has been watered down thanks to
population mixing and the strong influences of the electronic media. The
average, "younger" North German now sounds pretty mainstream German to me,
with only hues instead of colors of the North. Most of them cannot speak Low
Saxon and have "atrocious" German accents when they try to do so, mostly
because they learn it through the distorting veil of the poorly conceived
and implemented German-based orthography.

Therefore I wonder if younger North Germans these days tend to pronounce
English "j" as "ch" or if most of them still do a convincing "j" sound like
their predecessors did and do.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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