Re: Scientist's etymology vs. scientific etymology

--- Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen"
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > > French /R/ has spread to Germanic languages.
> > >
> > > Probably an independent development in these
> languages, not an
> > > adoption from French.
> >
> > Extremely unlikely. East of France, French was the
> language of the
> > better educated in the 18th century, north ans
> east of Germany German
> > was in the 16th and 19th centuries. Today the
> border line runs
> > somewhere in Småland in Sweden.
> >
> Even in English Northumbrian dialects had (and
> perhaps still have, to
> some degree) uvular /R/. I doubt that this was in
> imitation of French
> because the French spoken in English up to the end
> of Middle English
> probably did not have uvular /R/, and after that
> time French was not a
> significant influence on English pronunciation, I'm
> sure. So just as
> /R/ was an independent development in Northumbrian
> English, so could
> /R/ have arisen independently in Germanic dialects
> and then spread to
> the standard languages. (I just won't give up, will
> I?)
>

...
I believe French is responsible for the change in
Dutch, German and Scandinavian because of articles
that claim to detail the spread of /R/. Supposedly,
uvular /R/ spread from the French-speaking border in a
linear fashion. I've seen such articles of the web,
but I forget the authors' name. You're right in that
it is a truism that may need greater investigation but
I'm certain that the professional linguists who work
in phonology can give you chapter and verse.
I'd agree that Northumbrian is a different matter.
Spanish /R/ in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic is
also a different matter. I don't know if /R/ exists in
E. Cuba, but given that Orientales sound like Puerto
Ricans and Dominicanos, I wouldn't be surprised.
Uvular /R/ exists to some degree in Brazil but /h/
seems to be the norm. In Portugal, I only heard tap
/r/ but I was only in Evora