Klarinet Archive - Posting 001042.txt from 2000/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Language (was ligatures)
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 10:20:53 -0500

At 12:25 AM 2/27/2000 -0600, Dee Hays wrote:
>
>It may not be impeccable but at least in German, Italian and Spanish (I
>don't know about French or Swahili though), spelling is not nearly the
>problem it is in English. There is a much closer correspondence to the way
>a word is pronounced and the way it is spelled. English too often adopts
>the foreign spelling and pronunciation of a word when it enters our
>language. Thus we end up with words like "ennui," "spaghetti," "luncheon,"
>etc. Contrast this to the typical practice in German or Italian. They
>either change the spelling so that it fits the rules of their language,
>keeping the pronunciation the same, or take the opposite approach of
>changing the pronunciation to what their native rules would yield for that
>spelling.
>
>My German teacher told me of a German friend of hers who was afraid to use
>the word "doughnut" in speaking because she could never remember which
>pronunciation for "ough" was used here. And then contemplate the oddities
>of spelling and pronunciation in the following set of words.
>
>"Though the tough cough and hiccough plough him through"
>
>We have to memorize the spellings for these words. Our spelling rules just
>don't cut it here. I will admit that "plough" has pretty much fallen out of
>usage as the spelling of choice but it is still valid and is still recorded
>in the dictionary.
>
Nobody ever said it was going to be easy!

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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