LL-L "Phonology" 2003.05.11 (11) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 11.May.2003 (11) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
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From: Colin Wilson <lcwilson at btinternet.com>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2003.05.11 (09) [E]

At 20:41 11/05/03, R. F. Hahn wrote:

>Yet another way of describing the pronunciation of Gaelic <dh> and <gh>
>is to say that it is the voiced counterpart of <ch>.

It's maybe worth pointing out that "ch" has two variants in Gaelic -
a "front" variant as in _oi(dh)che_ and a "back" variant as in _loch_.

The "ghamma" sound has only one form, the "back" form. Where one might
expect a "front" form, it's replaced by a sound usually explained in
the textbooks as "y".

Incidentally, the "ch" in Scots is neither "front" nor "back", but
between the two! Thus _loch_ in Scots and _loch_ in Gaelic are
pronounced differently from each other.

Guidwull tae awbodie,

Colin Wilson.

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Phonology

I wrote:

> This "ghamma" sound occurs in many Lowlands Saxon (Low German) dialects
> where /g/ follows a long back vowel and is followed by another vowel,
> also where /e/ (or schwa) has been elided in the next syllable; e.g.,
>
> Wagen ['vQ:G=N] 'car'
> (Dage >) Daag' [dQ:.G] 'days'
> (ik suge >) ik suug' [?Ik zu:.G] 'I sucked'

And Colin wrote (above):

> It's maybe worth pointing out that "ch" has two variants in Gaelic -
> a "front" variant as in _oi(dh)che_ and a "back" variant as in _loch_.
>
> The "ghamma" sound has only one form, the "back" form. Where one might
> expect a "front" form, it's replaced by a sound usually explained in
> the textbooks as "y".

Same thing in Lowlands Saxon after front vowels but otherwise in the
same environments as described above; e.g.,

wegen ['ve:g=N] ~ ['ve:j=n] 'because', 'due to'
(Wege ['ve:ge] ~ ['ve:je] >) Weeg' [ve:.g] ~ [ve:.j] 'ways'
(Löge ['lœIge] ~ ['lœIje] >) Löög' [lœ:Ig] ~ [lœ:Ij]

Actually, the fricative tends to be a little more back than [j], in the
position of [g].

Voiceless or devoiced consonants, too, are as in Gaelic; e.g.,

acht [?aXt] 'eight'
lachen ['laX=N] 'to laugh'
Dag [daX] 'day'
Weg [vEC] 'way'
Rügg [rYC] 'back'
Tüüg [ty:C] 'stuff', 'clothes'

> Incidentally, the "ch" in Scots is neither "front" nor "back", but
> between the two! Thus _loch_ in Scots and _loch_ in Gaelic are
> pronounced differently from each other.

I have noticed that, also noticed similar pronunciation of <ch> by
Polish, Czech and Slovak speakers; e.g., Czech _chudý_ 'poor' and _bych_
'I would'.  I have been wondering what IPA symbol to use for it.

Cheers!
Reinhard/Ron

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