saying "umlaut"

[Julia Achenbach]

>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: saying "umlaut"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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 (?,? and ? 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.)
>>

The gun-thing was strange, I agree.
The vowel of book is the same as in Umlaut, according to the DCE. (short
and round)
I know how the word sounds like, I just can't really explain it.

>> 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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>>>>>>>>  Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service.
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  --
>>>>>>  "A learned blockhead is a better blockhead than an ignorant one"
>>>>>>  - Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
>>>>>>
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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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--
"A learned blockhead is a better blockhead than an ignorant one"
- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

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