pronuncation of BURY

[Millie Webb]

I haven't looked through all of these, Dennis, so I may be repeating what
someone else has already just said, but in many parts of Norway (I can't say
"all", since I have not been everywhere, and Nynorsk as opposed to Bokma(o)l
is hard enough for me to understand, I don't have time to worry about
pronunciation!), that word-final /s/ really is [s], and not [sh].  I know
this is at least true for native Norwegians I have known who lived in Norway
from just before WWII to within the last ten years.  And this is not because
I have *asked* them -- as we all probably know, asking someone directly how
they pronounce something often gets answers in isolation that sound nothing
like how they say them in conversation.  This [s] or [sh] allophone for /s/
at the end of words also marks very strongly where you come from within
Northern Germany (in Bremen, it is [s], but in Hannover it is [sh]
word-finally).  And in large parts of Southern Germany, it is pronounced
[sh] almost anywhere it appears (Schwaben, in particular).

And by the way, the bear in the 1980 Olympics was indeed Misha.  My nephew
(Michael) was born just after that, and everyone called him Misha through
preschool because it was "so cute" (now, he would sit on you if you called
him that).

With all due respect,   Millie (by the way, Dennis, I remember you at
Eastern very well, and wished I were there instead of Michigan sometimes,
just so I could talk with you more often.  You probably haven't a clue who I
am anymore though.)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 7:11 AM
Subject: Re: pronuncation of BURY


> Actually, "Lars" with a devoiced final consonant is already a
> modification from the Norwegian /sh/ (for "rs"), but, just like
> Polish "rz" (which is simply /zh/, we don't seem to be able to resist
> those /r/s, so we get two stages of modification /lash/ -> /lars/ ->
> /larz/.
>
> dInIs
>