Re: [tied] Vwikings.

Also, Russian has a w-offglide on "hard" labials: _my_ "we" [mw1] _vy_ "you" [vw1], _byl_ "was" [bw1L]. As does Irish Gaelic with "broad" b, bh, f, m, mh, p, ph. So the Irish name for Dublin, Báile Átha Cliath, is pronounced something like [bwA:l'@ A:h@ kli:@h].

I still have trouble with French words like _trois_, which is supposed to be pronounced [tXwA:], but I end up cheating and saying [twA:].

~DaW~

----- Original Message -----

From: markodegard@...

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, 28 August, 2001 21:56

Subject: [tied] Vwikings.

I watched a TV program about Vikings. They had soundbyte of an Greenlandic Inuit historian (with the last name Olsen). He pronounced it 'Vwikings'. I'm not making fun of his accent. It's just that I find the word-intial Vw combination very easy; fw is just as easy. But no English word I know of has them. The point of this post is that there are lots of clear, distinct sounds a native-speaker of English can easily produce, but there are few or no words using these sounds. Bw/pw is another example. With small children, L and R often comes out as W (with wots of wip wounding). I wonder if this has acted as a contraint on such sounds arising.