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Date:      Fri, 24 May 2002 11:12:40 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Marc Ramirez <mrami@mrami.homeunix.org>
To:        "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc:        Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be>, Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>, <chat@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: French, Flemish and English (was: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c)
Message-ID:  <20020524110009.T21090-100000@mrami.homeunix.org>
In-Reply-To: <20020522182914.I45715@wantadilla.lemis.com>

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On Wed, 22 May 2002, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:

> On Wednesday, 22 May 2002 at  9:28:38 +0200, Brad Knowles wrote:
> > At 11:28 AM +0930 2002/05/22, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> >
> >> That presupposes that pronunciation of words is a function of the
> >> language spoken.  For words which don't belong to the language, this
> >> doesn't make any sense.
> >
> > 	I disagree.  So long as the word appears to be pronounceable in a
> > particular language, then I believe that most people who speak that
> > language will probably try to pronounce it according to the customs
> > of their native language.
>
> Assuming they recognize the word or its derivation.

If we're talking about pronouncing a written word, it goes through two
filters: 1) what rules am I going to use to translate these markings into
a set of sounds in my head (which will be determined by the individual's
knowledge of different spelling rules, knowledge of context of the word,
etc.), and 2) what rules am I going to use to translate this set of sounds
in my head into tounge/lip/throat movements (which will be filtered by the
kinds of sounds the speaker is used to making, aka accent).

If we're talking about repeating a spoken word, it again goes through two
filters: 1) what sounds am I used to differentiating, and 2) what sounds
am I used to making.  To demonstrate #1, my Dad cannot hear the difference
between Sri Lanka (pronounced 'sree') and Sri Lanka (pronounced 'shree').
He is not used to trying to tell the difference, because that is not a
minimal pair in his ideolect of American English, the only dialect he
speaks.  Therefore when he says Sri Lanka, it always comes out 'shree',
which is one of the many differences from what a native would say.

Marc.

--
I telnetted to whitehouse.gov,
and all I got was this lousy .signature!



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