LL-L: "Phonology" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 22.JUL.1999 (01)

[Lowlands-L Administrator]

 =========================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 22.JUL.1999 (01) * ISSN 1089-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/~sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 =========================================================================
 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic
 =========================================================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 =========================================================================

From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Phonology

I thought Urban Lindqvist's message of 1 July had answered my
"chicken-and-egg" question as regards underlying forms, but when I came to
formulate a rule in simple terms it eluded me again.

If we say that final /z/ devoices to /s/ and there is no rule that
intervocalic /s/ becomes voiced that seems to make it plausible to say that
/z/ is underlying. But then we need another rule to explain "huisde", etc.
"Huiselijk", which seems to be unique for the morpheme "huis-" in having
intervocalic "s" (and presumably /s/) may test and disprove the intervocalic
voicing rule but since the "s" is not final it doesn't fit the "underlying
/z/" rule either. Furthermore, if "huiselijk" came to be pronounced with
intervocalic /z/ - which would be in keeping with a tendency in Dutch to
reduce the number of pronunciation models (I previously mentioned
dergelijk -> derg at l@k) - the intervocalic voicing rule would be by far the
simplest explicator in the case of the morpheme "huis". But then, I assume,
the idea of underlying form would be recast in the wider context of the
"final devoicing" rule to restore the status quo ante.

In passing, the tendency to intervocalic voicing of "s" in French is so
strong that even a word like "philosophie" - not likely to be much used by
the common people - is pronounced with /z/, contrary to its very obvious
etymology.

I previously mentioned the devoicing of /v/ in "I have to", and somebody in
North America (sorry, I haven't kept the message) said it was more common
there when the "have" is stressed. This afternoon I heard an American say a
very distinct "It hass to be done", which perhaps confirms the idea that
this pronunciation is more extreme in the USA.

I said before that I had never seen this devoicing mentioned in print. Over
the last few years I have noticed that a major sound-shift seems to be
taking place in the O-based vowels in English. I suppose I mean in Received
Pronunciation. The changes are more pronounced in the speech of young people
but are spreading. Examples (presentation my own):

cool, school -> cole, skole

good -> g@:d

two -> t at oo or ti-oo

These things don't seem to be part of Estuary English (or at least I haven't
seen them classified in that way). I asked Prof J C Wells (Phonetics Dept,
University College London) whether there was documentation of these changes.
He said  phoneticians are well aware of them but didn't give me any
references. I have been listening for "cool" in US TV dramas but haven't
detected a similar change there.

Concerning file://z// in Outlook Express, you can fool it by inserting
spaces: // z //.

John Feather
johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

==================================END======================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
   to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 ===========================================================================