peter@ontmoh.UUCP (Peter Renzland) (05/27/91)
btiffany@pbs.org writes: > In article <TMB.91May22102757@volterra.ai.mit.edu>, tmb@ai.mit.edu > (Thomas M. Breuel) writes: > > > In any case, I believe most dialects of English already have more > > vowels than any of the languages you mention (certainly more than > > Spanish). English has somewhere around 14 vowels. > > FOURTEEN? Well, when I was knee high from the floor in school they taught me > only FIVE: A E I O and U! It was mentioned that sometimes Y can act like > a vowel, but it is still a consonant. So at most you might say English has > 5.5 vowels. But 14?? Where did you come up with such a figure? The confusion comes from the use of "vowel" to mean both "vowel letter" and "vowel sound". In German, Spanish, Italian, Maaori, etc. the correspondence is trivial. As a consequence, you know how to pronounce a word from its spelling, even if you have never seen it before. This is not the case in English. In German the names of the vowels a e i o u are also their values. Wenn also jemand "a" sagt, dann ist "a" zugleich der Name, der Laut, und der Buchstabe. In English, there is much confusion. All vowel names (except "e") are diphthongs: distinct uses................. a's name sounds like e+i ale chaotic care add account arm ask sofa mustard was talk e's name sounds like i eve here event end silent maker heir swerve ewe sergeant i's name sounds like a+i ice ill charity police fir o's name sounds like o+u old obey orb odd soft connect oil food foot out women! other wisdom minor work u's name sounds like i+u cube unite urn up circus nature rude put y's name sounds like u+a+i yet sky hymn martyr myrrh (most of the examples are taken from Merriam-Webster Pronunciation Key) Note the sounds and letters in these words: herd bird word curd earn Note that the German Umlaute (ae oe ue) are not diphthongs. German diphthongs are ai au ei eu aeu. (aeu is ae + u -- looks like au with " over the a) -- Peter Renzland @ Ontario Ministry of Health 416/964-9141 peter@ontmoh.UUCP
karl@cs.cornell.edu (Karl F. Bohringer) (05/27/91)
In article <675341960.18654@ontmoh.UUCP>, peter@ontmoh.UUCP (Peter Renzland) writes: |> In German the names of the vowels a e i o u are also their values. |> Wenn also jemand "a" sagt, dann ist "a" zugleich der Name, der Laut, |> und der Buchstabe. Wenn ich "Bahn, Bann, Bass" sage, benutze ich drei verschiedene A-Laute. -- " Karl-Friedrich Bohringer 4157 Upson Hall karl@cs.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853
Michael.Schwuchow@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de (Michael Schwuchow) (05/28/91)
karl@cs.cornell.edu (Karl F. Bohringer) writes: >In article <675341960.18654@ontmoh.UUCP>, peter@ontmoh.UUCP (Peter Renzland) writes: >|> In German the names of the vowels a e i o u are also their values. >|> Wenn also jemand "a" sagt, dann ist "a" zugleich der Name, der Laut, >|> und der Buchstabe. There IS a difference between aah! and A-a. :-) >Wenn ich "Bahn, Bann, Bass" sage, benutze ich drei verschiedene A-Laute. Was ist der Unterschied zwischen den "a"s in Bann und Basz ? Or do you say bane ?? Das gleiche gilt fuer Ofen - offen Baer - Beere - Berg - Saerge schief - Schiff Schuld - Schule Oefen - oeffnen Buechse - Buecher Micha -- ------The universe is not only queerer than we imagine,-------------- ! it's queerer than we can imagine. ! ! Realname: Michael Schwuchow UUCP: schwuchow@uniol.UUCP ! ! Position: Oldenburg, FRG/RFA/BRD Inhouse: michel@aragorn ! -------------ceterum censeo vocales non mutanda----------------------
karl@cs.cornell.edu (Karl F. Bohringer) (05/29/91)
In article <5622@uniol.UUCP>, Michael.Schwuchow@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de (Michael Schwuchow) writes: |> >Wenn ich "Bahn, Bann, Bass" sage, benutze ich drei verschiedene A-Laute. |> |> Was ist der Unterschied zwischen den "a"s in Bann und Basz ? |> Or do you say bane ?? Ich habe gerade im Woerterbuch nachgeschaut: Mein a in Bass wird dort mit dem phonetischen Zeichen a beschrieben, waehrend mein a in Bann ein auf dem Kopf stehendes v ist. (Ich muss allerdings zugeben, dort steht auch, dass das letztere im Deutschen nicht vorkommt. Aber im Schwaebischen!) -- " Karl-Friedrich Bohringer 4157 Upson Hall karl@cs.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853