On Fri, 15 Jun 2001 10:41:57 -0000,
tgpedersen@... wrote:
>Thank you for the detailed exposition of the subject of Dutch "w".
>Now I know everything about it, except, perhaps, its historical
>development and whether Surinams pronounciation as "w" reflects an
>original Dutch pronounciation?
Unlikely. Dutch <w> is historically of course /w/ as in English, PIE
non-syllabic /u/, and the proof is that when /u/ went to /y/ (/ΓΌ/, if
you prefer), /w/ went with it (basically still the Flemish
pronunciation). There are some regional variants where <w> is still
[w] (Katwijks, for instance, a coastal ("ingvaeonic") Hollands
dialect), but that would have had a minor effect on the colonization
of Surinam. Surinamese itself (Sranan tongo) is an English-based
creole, with a phomeme /w/ and nothing like Dutch /W/.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...