--- In norse_course@..., robert blank <sawilagaz@...> wrote:

>
> --- Greer Trumble <staverunner@...> wrote:
> Heill
> The difference is not in sound but in length. The
> short/a/ sounds like the /a/ in the word "artist". The
> long /á/ is like the /a/ in "father". Same sound only
> longer. Hope that helped.
> Rob
>
> >
> > What's the difference between [a] as in mann (G.)
> > and
> > [a:] as in father (E.)? I always said them more or
> > less the same, when I lived in Germany.
> >
>

Hi Robert!
I am not sure if the a in artist is short enough!
How do you say "Harvard Yard" ? :)

(in Boston the drop the r, and have a very long a)
"I went to Art School" -- isn't Art with a rather
long A? I remember looking for an example of the short
a, but couldn't find it in English.
German has it: "Ich bin satt" (short a)
"Ich muss baden" (long a)

The problem seems to be that in America they use the æ
for the short a.
Norwegian "Jeg satt i en stol" (short a)
* US "I sat in a chair"
But the problem is that if you try to wtite the last sentence
with Norwegian letters/sound values, you have to write it as
* "Ai sæt inn ø tsjær" ! :)

I think it is very instructive at this point to carefully
compare the two above sentences marked with stars.
Because it tells you how differently we conceive of the
vowels over here.

Somehow the short a has disappeared from English and become
replaced by the sound that we write as æ.

I suppose the only really good remedy is to get a fairly
standard book that explains in detail how the phonetic
alphabet is pronounced (the part of it you need)
Because then you'll have a book you can refer back to
later. Otherwise you'll keep forgetting the prononciations,
even if it's been very well explained.

Best regards
Keth