On Thu, 5 Sep 2002 tsdoughty@... wrote:

> > To me, however, the vowel in 'boot' is clearly _longer_ (different in
> >quantity) from the one in 'book'. Native English speakers don't seem to
> >notice that difference - yet, to my ears at least, they produce it
> >accurately every time they utter the words.
>
> Wow, you nailed the other _big_ thing that's made it very hard to master
> pronunciation of ON/Icelandic! In English we are never taught the concept of
> long vs. short vowels in terms of quantity. Every schoolchild when learning
> to read is taught "long" vowels (cane) vs. "short" vowels (can), but in this
> case it's a misuse of the terms, since it really means two totally different
> vowels. We are actually unaware, as you point out, that the vowels take
> longer to sound. And when I read that in many languages one has to pronounce
> the vowels for a longer or shorter period of time, I was mystified. It took
> me years to understand that concept, let alone hear the difference.

Interesting; this is a difference that I haven't heard clerly. Do you
know of anywhere that tries to explain it well?

--
Louis Erickson - wwonko@... - http://www.rdwarf.com/~wwonko/

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