Re: Cimbri Name = the thieves

On 2007-11-20 02:25, Rick McCallister wrote:

> Again --Am I wrong in assuming that German <ö> of
> schön is the same as /ö/? --which to me sounds like a
> rounded version of /@/ with an /R/-like quality to it,
> just like <fur>, not like <feu>

Postalveolar and medial approximant realisations of /r/ (and vowels
rhotacised in this way) have a lowered F3 formant, just like rounded
vowels. This is because both a postalveolar constriction and a labial
one occur at the maximum points of the F3 standing wave and conspire to
produce a similar acoustic effect by different articulatory means. This
is probably what you hear as an R-like quality (consonantal /r/ in
English often involves some lip activity as well). As others have
already pointed out, the vowels of Ger. schön and Fr. peu _are_ almost
the same.

> The sound of the vowel in <feu> to me is very similar
> to the vowel in <book> --especially in (some varieties
> of) Appalachian English and like the vowel in <much>
> in Liverpuddlian English

This is very wide off the mark.

Piotr