[tied] Re: Pronunciation of "r" - again?

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>

wrote:

>
> > I don't think so. The relationship in English between native /w/

and

> > French /v/ was codified a long time ago, when the English

nobility

> > decided to give up France and decided to make peace with the

natives

> > at home. They had therefore been immunized, so to speak, by the

time

> > the elites of Europe decided French /v/ was cool.
>
> But it was the *Norman* conquest. Norman French, from which

English

> gets _warrior_ and _warden_, distinguished initial /v/ and /w/.
>

Good point, I hadn't thought of that. So the "institutionalisation"
of the roles of /v/ and /w/ goes back to Romance/Frankish contact
instead. Or even further?


Torsten