How would an Icelander then distinguish between 'finna' and 'vinna', for example? Is it dependent on context?
Dan
tsdoughty@... wrote:
keith@... writes:
I don't know if you've read or heard this, or not, but 'v' is voiced
and 'f' is unvoiced.To my sensibilities, at least, that is a non-subtle distinction.
That was the point, that what is subtle or non-subtle lies in a person's ear, and that children raised in a language come to regard certain phonetic qualities as important while disregarding other ones. This becomes fixed at a certain point in the child's development. To an English ear 'v' & 'f'' are important distinctions, while to a native Icelandic ear they are not.
Tim
Sumir hafa kvæði...
...aðrir spakmæli.- Keth
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Daniel Bray
dbray@...
School of Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia"The smarter someone's suit, the dirtier their soul," - Imogen Edwards-Jones