Klarinet Archive - Posting 001055.txt from 2000/02

From: " Frederick S. Sterns" <fssterns@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Language (was ligatures)
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 12:59:59 -0500

>From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.com>

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Hausmann" <bhausman@-----.com>

>> I think we cut a fair amount of slack to list members for whom English (or
>> one of the American dialects) is not their primary language. We ASSUME
>> that their grammar in spelling in French, German, Swahili, or whatever is
>> impeccable!

> 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.
>
> Let's hear it for "Have Fun With English!"

At last...the set-up I've been waiting for...nobody I know cares about my
interest in Swahili, so now I can regale this list with my limited
knowledge.

Swahili has some complicated grammar, including rough ["ruff" ?] stuff like
noun prefixes...but about the easiest pronunuciation possible.

For starters, every letter is pronounced...whether vowel or consonant.
Moreover, if a letter is written twice, it's pronounced twice...no
dipthongs.

Next, the stress is on the next-to-the-last syllable...with only a few dozen
exceptions out of the entire, massive, Swahili vocabularly. [The language
"features" words of Bantu, Arabic, English, and Portuguese origins.]

And...pronunciation is consistent across the entire Swahili speaking
world...so if you're from Zanzibar and go to Eastern Uganda you'll still be
understood.

Apologies to anyone who objects to my wasting Klarinet bandwidth on an
irrelvent subject.

Now...back woodshedding on my horn! Fred Sterns

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