Re: The role of analogy, alliteration and sandhi in counting

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

>
> At 2:31:33 PM on Tuesday, May 8, 2007, tgpedersen wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Similarly English English-speakers tend to diphthongize
> > long vowels even when speaking foreign languages,
> > presumably because the low-status Scottish and Irish
> > varieties of English don't diphthongize long vowels.
>
> Most English and U.S. speakers tend to diphthongize long
> vowels when speaking foreign languages for a much simpler
> reason: they're doing what comes naturally.

They're doing what comes naturally to a native English-speaker.

> Many can't hear
> the difference between, say, [e:] and [eI], and many who can
> hear it can't reproduce it, or can't reproduce it reliably
> without great concentration.

And the reason they can't hear or reproduce that difference it is that
the two are dialectal allophones in English. Native speakers of other
languages than English have no problem distinguishing them.

> Many U.S. speakers aren't even
> aware of varieties that don't diphthongize long vowels, and
> if they are, they're likely to find them attractive.

I see you agree with me.

> > I think this is a general priciple. Somehow you can't get
> > your brain to accept that those foreigners really in
> > earnest insist on speaking like the despised yokels of
> > your own country so you want to help them along on their
> > pronounciation.
>
> Fails the most basic plauibility test, at least in respect
> of the English example.

Which one is that, other than your Anglocentric idiosyncracies?


Torsten