Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic

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

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew Jarrette" <anjarrette@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@> wrote:
> > >
> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZf07Stnh-E
> > > 0:57 'worden', first syllable too short,
> > > schwa of the last syllable too long
> > > 1:14 'nagelklippah' should be 'nagelknipper', as someone points
> > > out in the comments
> > >
> >
> > Hey! In listening to this clip again, I noticed that in trying to
> > say "shove that cat up your anus", the red-haired one first says
> > [kAt] for "cat", as though it were Dutch, then immediately corrects
> > it to [kat].
>
> That happens to me too, if I use a quote in (American) English;
> American phonemes, like the 'a', occasionally creep into the Danish
> part of the sentence. No proof.

But you're a Dane who occasionally lets American phonemes into Danish
sentences after a quote in English. This girl let Dutch phonemes into
English sentences while reading English. Not the same thing, and not
something a native English speaker would do. Clearly she accidentally
lapsed into her native Dutch pronunciation.

>
>
> > Then the dark-haired one hesitates and says in Dutch "Ik weet de zin
> > nie", i.e. "I don't know the meaning [of that phrase]". Obviously
> > she is Dutch and doesn't understand the English phrase, although she
> > eventually realizes it is nonsense and can translate it literally.
>
> Dutch, among other odd features, has no word for 'remember', thus
> 'weet je nog?' is "Do you remember?". Joan (Beppieblits) reads from a
> script, Mirren doesn't, she uses the English sentences as cues for the
> Dutch translations, in the confusion over Joan's mispronunciation of
> 'shove that cat up your anus', she forgets the origanal sentence, and
> asks ('Ik weet de zin nie(t)' "I've forgotten the sentence") Joan to
> repeat it.

An online dictionary gives 6 Dutch verbs meaning remember: gedenken;
zich herinneren; bedenken; denken aan; een fooitje geven; onthouden

In any case, even if she did say "I've forgotten the sentence", why
would she say it in Dutch if she is a native English speaker?

>
> > And from the misstep of pronouncing "cat" as [kAt], I would
> > definitely say that the red-haired one is also Dutch.
>
> As I said, I don't think so.
>
> > They are probably Dutch sisters (or at least Dutch friends),
> > just as they claim to be at the websites you provided.
>
> They probably are Dutch by now. I don't think they grew up there.
>

Well, as I said before, there's nothing that indicates that they are
Scottish, I don't know where you got that idea. And I'm familiar with
Dutch accents in English and the dark-haired girl definitely has a
Dutch accent, while the reddish-haired girl seems to have traces of
one. The dark-haired girl at least is unquestionably native Dutch, I
have no doubt about it, and I strongly suspect the reddish-haired one
is also native Dutch.

Andrew