saying "umlaut"

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:33 PM -0700 10/9/09, Julia Achenbach wrote:
>Herb, I think we mean the same thing. If you had German in HS, you will
>have definitely heard this word (ä,ü and ö are the Umlaute)
>
>The transcription did not turn out the way I was hoping it would.
>
>The first "u" in Umlaut is short. The second one is pronounced together
>with the "a". This sound than is, as it has been stated already, sounds
>like "ou" as in "out".
>
>I hope this makes any sense.

What threw us off, I think, was the reference to
the vowel in "gun", which is not the vowel one
hears at the beginning of "umlaut" either in
Germany or elsewhere.  The only question is
whether it's closer to [U], the vowel of "book"
or [u], the vowel of "boom".  (The latter is
tenser, longer, and higher, but they're both
round, while that of "gun" isn't, outside of
regional varieties in the U.K. and possibly
elsewhere.)

LH

>
>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>  -----------------------
>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
>>>  Subject:      Re: saying "umlaut"
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>  I think I learned the word in high school in German class, and it's
>>>  always been /'UmlaUt/ for me.  I'm not sure I've ever heard Julia's
>>>  pronunciation.
>>>
>>>  Herb
>>>
>>>  On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 7:48 PM, Julia Achenbach
>>>  <julia.achenbach at uni-oldenburg.de> wrote:
>>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>  -----------------------
>>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>  Poster:       Julia Achenbach <julia.achenbach at UNI-OLDENBURG.DE>
>>>>  Subject:      Re: saying "umlaut"
>>>>
>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>  Shouldn't it be something like this:
>>>>  '? mla? t ???
>>>>
>>>>  The letter "u" is short, similar to the way "u" is pronounced in "gun",
>>>>  the so ~oom seems just a little bit weird to me.
>>>>
>>>>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>>>  -----------------------
>>>>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>>  Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>>>>>>  Subject:      saying "umlaut"
>>>>>>
>>>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  Interestly "umlaut" has multiple pronunciations.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  At forvo.com, enter "umlaut", click on the resulting first word (not
>>>>>>  arrow), see three pronunciations:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  1  ~oomlout (where ~oo is as in "good" ~ou as in "out", spoken by
>>>>>>  topquark
>>>>>>  2. ~oomlou' (where "t" is dropped or glottalized) spoken by threb
>>>>>>  3. ~oomllaat  (stress second syl, with ~aa as in "Saab", spoken by
>>>>>>  Olbill.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  thefreedictionary.com has
>>>>>>  1. USA = ~uemlout (where ~ue is as in "true")
>>>>>>  2. UK = ~uemllout (stress second syllable)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  m-w.com has two pronunciations
>>>>>>  1. firstly  ~oomlout
>>>>>>  2. secondly  ~uemlout
>>>>>>  (but the phonetic notation is in reverse order.  So which is really
>>>>>>  first
>>>>>>  or second?)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  It's pretty rare in English to have a word start with ~oo.  Of the top
>>>>>>  5k
>>>>>>  most popular words, none do.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
>>>>>>  see truespel.com phonetic spelling
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>>>>
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>  >>>
>>>
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>
>
>--
>"A learned blockhead is a better blockhead than an ignorant one"
>- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
>
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