--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...>
wrote:......
> david_russell_watson <liberty@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...>
> wrote:
>..................
> But I am recounting all aspects of English that make it
nonconforming among Indo-European languages. For example, all Indo-
European languages but English have an "i" that is pronounced like
our "ee", and "a" is never pronounced /ey/, always "ah" or very
similar (e.g. with "long" or "short" subvarieties which are not too
divergent from the "ah" sound), among all other Indo-European
languages. Also for example, most Indo-European languages changed
initial /w/ to /v/. One changed it to /b/, one to /gw/, and in one it
disappeared. But all other Indo-European languages changed the
sound /w/ in initial position. In this way, English is atypical.
Perhaps I am using the wrong word, but I think I am not
using "atypical" incorrectly here.
[NS]
As has already been pointed out, here you are talking about the
English spelling system, not the English language. I think if you had
posed it as the "English spelling system is atypical" rather
than "English is atypical" you might find greater acceptance
>> ... and English is also atypical among
> > Indo-European languages in preserving /w/ in initial
> > position.
>
> If the inclusion of initial /w/ in the sound system of
> the language in its earlier stages wasn't odd, then why
> is its accidental retention atypical of a later stage?
>
>
> Because no other Indo-European language retained this sound in this
position (its commonest position).
[NS]
Yes, but considering the number of initial sounds in PIE and the
amount of change languages have gone through would it really be
remarkable that just by chance one descendant alone retained a
certain sound while all others lost it? It is not as if there were
anything special about /w/ which caused you to investigate to see who
had retained it, and you then discovered to your surprise that
English alone did. Rather you've picked the example of /w/ precisely
because you already knew it was retained by English alone. I'm
inclined to agree with David that this is just an accidental feature
which goes toward making English a different language than its
sisters.
Regards,
Ned Smith