Re: French phonetics

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew Jarrette" <anjarrette@...>
wrote:

>
> Yes, you're probably right that in Canada it's due to the French
> presence and the teaching of French in our schools. But note
> also: most people I hear pronounce "Gouda" cheese as [gu:d&],
> as though it were a French name, even though its Dutch origin
> requires a diphthong similar to our [aU], as <ou> is most typically
> pronounced in native words, i.e. [gaUd&], as one would pronounce
> it using typical English rules, would be a good approximation of
> its original pronunciation. I suspect that the pronunciation
> [gu:d&] is predominant in the U.S. too, no?

Oh yes, I've never heard anything but [gu:d&], and never had
any idea before now that it was pronounced any other way.

> P.S. Why are "Chicago" and "Michigan" pronounced with [S]
> rather than [tS]? Never understood those ones.

Nor have I. We have also 'Arkansas' alongside 'Kansas', but
with the latter no clue at all to the pronunciation of the
former.

> P.P.S.: I am aware this thread is off-topic, we can move it to
> cybalistadmin if necessary, if we're not finished with it yet.

It's off-topic there too, actually. Maybe it could go instead
to http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/foreignlanguages .

From the homepage:

"This is a forum for foreign language learners and teachers,
language enthusiasts and professionals, native and non-
native speakers of whatever language. Help with learning
ANY language, (non-commercial) translations, foreign language
resources, teaching methods, linguistics, catchy phrases to
impress your foreign girl or boy friend, etc. are all valid
topics of discussion. 'Casual', 'informal' and 'language' are
keywords here."

We discuss English spelling and pronunciation there all time.

David