[lit-ideas] Re: Softies

Speaking of phonemes and graphemes in English, I'm reminded of the old antiphonetic joke: "How do you pronounce 'ghoti'? Be advised, if you're a sensitive linguist, you might find the following offensive.

It's pronounced "fish". You take the 'gh' from 'enough', there's your /f/, take the 'o' from 'women', there's your /i/ and take the 'ti' from 'nation', there's your /sh/ -- fish.

Mike Geary





----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Stone" <pas@xxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 10:09 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Softies



Could "th" as in "the" and "kith" be considered a soft 't'?  The
Germans---and lots of others---don't use that sound, which is
why the Germans have given up and now write "Neandertal" instead
of "Neanderthal."

Nah, those are in a class by themselves -- bilabial fricatives. I once tried to teach a German-Speaker how to make that sound, it ended up being a sort of childlike, extended 'd' sound. I guess if you don't form and retain them in the babbling stage, the ability to make those sounds is lost.

p

##########
Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Kingsville, ON, Canada
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