LL-L "Phonology" 2004.10.28 (04) [E]

Thu Oct 28 17:09:35 UTC 2004

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Helge Willkowei <helge.willkowei at gmx.de>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2004.10.27 (01) [E]

> ellen simon <elleninbritain at yahoo.com> schreev:
> Subject: phonology

> In West-Flemish there is a process of regressive voice assimilation in
> fricative + sonorant consonant (=nasals, liquids and glides) clusters
across
> word-boundaries. An example:  "'t is waar" (it's true) is realized as "'t
> i[z] waar". This type of regressive voice assimilation seems to be
> relatively rare. In order to understand this process better, I'm looking
for
> other language varieties in which this type of voice assimilation occurs.

I know this from French:

"une tasse de café" [yntazd at kafe] or "la Place de la Concorde"
[laplazd at lako~kORd], where single "tasse" or "place" would be pronounced
with voiceless [s].

-Helge Willkowei

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From: Christian Chiarcos <chiarcos at ling.uni-potsdam.de>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2004.10.27 (10) [E]

Hi Ron,

I wrote:
> I think this follows two simple rules:
>
> - untensed long vowels <oh,eh,öh> become tensed <oo,ee,öö> if in focus
> - tensed long vowels <oo,ee,öö,ie> become diphthongs <ou,ej,öi,i"e> if in
> focus

Ron wrote:
> My first hunch is that in these dialects phonemic diphthongs are
> monophthongized in ordinatry speech mode, or that there is a
> variety-specific rule that expresses heavy emphasis by means of
> diphthongization.

I think the latter, since MLG ê (1-3) and ô (1-3) are always preserved as
tensed long vowels <ee> and <oo>, with optional alternatives as given above.
(Pfaff 1898 doesn't mention a similar alternation, and as I wrote, it is
unlikely as long as the old diphthongs were still pronounced as /O.U/ and
/e.I/)
The (very few) instances of diphthongs <au>, <eu> and <ei> are from MLG
<ou>, <ou>+uml, <ei> and dipthongs since the late OS period, but indeed,
there is a tendency for monophthongization in unstressed syllables (in place
names: Slavic -ovo > MLG -ow(e) > 17th c. -o).

It is indeed interesting, since it partly resembles of the processes of the
Great Vowel Shift as in English (especially the shift from untensed to
tensed vowels) thus revealing a possible synchronous reality of diachronic
sound shifts. But however, at the moment it is only an impression, and the
data is to sparse to claim that these observations are methodically valid.
So, if similar observations would have been made elsewhere, this would
support this interpretation ;o)

Regards,
Christian

BTW: Diphthongization under emphasis is not uncommon, in Vogtland/Central
German we find /i.@/ instead of long i in final syllables, cf. _Omi_
"granny", pronounced /O.Umi.@/ besides more standard-like versions /O.Umi:/
and /o:mi:/. I think, the former is more common in sentence-final position,
thus being in an unmarked position for the pitch accent. An even more
explicit occurrence of vocalic epenthesis under emphasis is from children's
speech. My nephew, when being ca. 5 years old, used triphthongic _neien_
[na.I. at n] oder even _neihen_ [na.IhEn] instead of Standard German _nein_
"no" when protesting, but _nein_ [na.In] under normal conditions.

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From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at worldonline.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2004.10.27 (10) [E]

>>>>>_oust_ becoming _aust_, _höü_ becoming _hoi_, _klei_ becoming _klai_
simply seems an adaption to the High German system of diphthongs.
German has only au, ai, oi, so MittPomm must have replaced its original
diphthongs for the German ones (Ingmar)

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

Ingmar (above):

> >>>>>_oust_ becoming _aust_, _höü_ becoming _hoi_, _klei_ becoming _klai_
> simply seems an adaption to the High German system of diphthongs.
> German has only au, ai, oi, so MittPomm must have replaced its original
> diphthongs for the German ones (Ingmar)

This could be a case of jumping to conclusions.  Just because German
dominates in those areas now is not necessarily to say that some Lowlands
Saxon (Low German) dialects that have undergone the shifts ou > au and ei >
ai have done so because of German.  Sure, German is now predominant there,
but it is not predominant in the Netherlands, yet Dutch is undergoing the
shifts (ol >) ou > au, ei > ai and (ii >) ei > ai (not talking about
spelling now).  Like German, English underwent the shifts u (> ou) > au
(e.g., cú > cow, hús > house; chuo > Kuh, hûs > Haus) and ii > ai (e.g., tíd
> tide; tîd > zîd ~ zît > Zeit), while the Scots branch descending from Old
English did not participate in the former shift ( house = hoose, cou = coo).
Yet, you wouldn't suggest that this is due to German influence in Southern
Britain.

Christian (above):

> BTW: Diphthongization under emphasis is not uncommon, in Vogtland/Central
German we
> find /i.@/ instead of long i in final syllables, cf. _Omi_ "granny",
pronounced /O.Umi.@/ besides
> more standard-like versions /O.Umi:/ and /o:mi:/. I think, the former is
more common in
> sentence-final position, thus being in an unmarked position for the pitch
accent. An even
> more explicit occurrence of vocalic epenthesis under emphasis is from
children's speech.
> My nephew, when being ca. 5 years old, used triphthongic _neien_ [na.I. at n]
oder even
> _neihen_ [na.IhEn] instead of Standard German _nein_ "no" when protesting,
but _nein_
> [na.In] under normal conditions.

I notice falling diphthongs of this sort, associated with stressed
syllables, in several languages.  For instance, Russian primary-stressed /o/
tends to come out as [oa] (which is a case of unrounding, really), and in
Swedish and some Norwegian dialects I hear long /e/ as [eV] or as [ea].

I wonder if, phonetically speaking, this is a case of tension release toward
the end of a long, tense vowel.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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