[lit-ideas] Re: Softies
- From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:48:43 -0400
Paul Stone writes:
: At 10:29 AM 8/28/2006, you wrote:
: >Perhaps it's a little like the "veit" and "beit" in Hebrew? Or the subtle
: >difference in the way Latin Americans and Spaniards say "veces"?
:
: When linguists speak of a hard or soft sound, they are usually (for
: English) talking about C and G, and sometimes J -- although I'm not sure
: there are any soft js in non-filched English words.
:
: But there are only a certain number of 'sounds' and a soft 'c' is just an
: 's', a soft 'g' is a 'j' and a soft 'j' is a 'y'. I can't think of what a
: soft 't' would be. The closest I can think is when it is used as a 'sh'
: sound as in 'libation'. But that's a totally different sound that is almost
: completely dependent on the "io" following.
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."
--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
EMAIL: junger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu
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