How they say German

[Dennis Preston]

Colleagues,

"Po niemiecku" does not mean "German" (neither
the people nor the nationality) in Polish; it is
an adverbial which means (roughly) "Germanly" or
"in the German manner" and means to speak German.
The so-called phonetics, or whatever bullshit
truespel is, is laughably off since the glide
onsets to the first two vocalic segments of
"niemiecku" (which are the same except for
stress) are not indicated, and, even sillier,
they are shown as segmentally different, but they
are not.

The phonetics are, of course, roughly (a kind
word actually; they are simply incorrect)
phonemic, not phonetic at all.

Who is Tom Zurinskas and what is this crap? I've
been off the list for a while plying my trade in
the old Country.

dInIs



>---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      How they say German
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Germans don't call themselves German.  Its ~Doich.  Strange that we call
>other people by names they don't use themselves.
>
>Below are words for "German" in other languages as heard on travlang.com
>Word of the Day.  Phonetics are in truespel.
>
>http://us.f528.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=4841_3551761_48469_1373_4029_0_208154_15790_1603225941&Idx=105&YY=92900&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=25&order=up&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=Trash
>
>
>Arabic Alalmania   ~Elelmanneeyu   (double consonant starts a stressed
>syllable. ~u is "uh".
>Dutch Duits ~Duts
>English German  ~Jermin
>French allemand ~Elmun
>German Deutsch  ~Doich
>Japanese Doitsugo ~Doitsuegoe'  (~ue is long u.  ~oe is long o.  Ending
>apostrophe is glottal stop.)
>Korean Dok-il-o  ~Doekkeedoe  (~ee is long e)
>Mandarin dÈ yuv.  ~Doiyeu  (~eu is the vowel in "her" without the "r".
>Polish po niemiecku ~Poe Neemmitskue
>Portuguese alem“o  ~Elummun
>Russian Nemetsky  ~Nemyeski  (~i is short i)
>Spanish alem·n   Aaleemman  (~aa is "ah", ~a is short a)
>Swahili Kijerumani  ~Teefermmaanee   (I hear ~t for the K, Maybe poor audio)
>
>
>
>
>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>See truespel.com - and the 4  truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
>authorhouse.com.
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: Dennis Baron <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>Subject: The Army Language Corps: We speak Farsi so you donít have to
>>Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:11:34 -0500
>>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Dennis Baron <debaron at UIUC.EDU>
>>Subject:
>>=?WINDOWS-1252?Q?The_Army_Language_Corps:_We_speak_Farsi_so_you_?
>>                = =?WINDOWS-1252?Q?don=92t_have_to?=
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>There's a new post on the Web of Language
>>
>>The Army Language Corps: We speak Farsi so you don=92t have to
>>
>>While the U.S. contemplates making English either its official or its =20=
>>
>>national language, continues to discourage immigrants from speaking =20
>>their own native languages, and actively encourages Americans to =20
>>remain resolutely monolingual, the army has been quietly teaching =20
>>strategic foreign languages to key personnel on a strictly need-to-=20
>>know basis.
>>
>>Since 1776 the American military has defended the nation against all =20
>>enemies foreign and domestic, and since 1941, when it began secretly =20
>>teaching Japanese to U.S. soldiers, most of them of Japanese =20
>>ancestry, it has been defending us against all languages foreign and =20
>>domestic as well.
>>
>>The army=92s elite Defense Language Institute, in Monterey, California,
>>=20=
>>
>>the self-proclaimed =93language capital of the world,=94 now teaches 24
>>=20=
>>
>>key languages to military and other government personnel, condensing =20
>  >four years of study into freeze-dried packets of =93languages-ready-to-=20=
>>
>>speak=94 that take just six to 18 months. So willing is the army to do =20=
>>
>>the talking for us that the motto of its Farsi program is, =93We speak =20=
>>
>>Farsi so you don=92t have to.=94
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Read the rest on  the Web of Language
>>
>>
>>
>>www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>>
>>
>>
>>(and sorry for the hat trick of posts this week -- )
>>
>>Dennis
>>
>>
>>
>>Dennis Baron
>>Professor of English and Linguistics
>>Department of English
>>University of Illinois
>>608 S. Wright St.
>>Urbana, IL 61801
>>
>>office: 217-244-0568
>>fax: 217-333-4321
>>
>>www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron
>>
>>read the Web of Language:
>>www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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