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From: mcv@inter.NL.net (Miguel Carrasquer)
Subject: Re: difference between c and z in Spanish
Message-ID: <Cy5JsM.Jo2@inter.NL.net>
Organization: NLnet
References: <3823mg$obr@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <Cxx63x.HEK@inter.NL.net> <38egt1$5e1@gordon.enea.se>
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 00:53:10 GMT
Lines: 40

In article <38egt1$5e1@gordon.enea.se>,
Erland Sommarskog <sommar@enea.se> wrote:
>Miguel Carrasquer (mcv@inter.NL.net) writes:
>>It's just another example of how spelling influences
>>people's thoughts on pronunciation.  Of course there's
>>no difference at all...  I'm sure there will be people
>>claiming that "b" and "v" also sound subtly different
>>in Castilian.
>
>Where did I see that? It must have been a bilingual Swedish-
>Spanish dictionary I found in San Sebastian or Barcelona.
>It said something like "b and v are often pronounced with-
>out difference in careless speech, but the student is re-
>commended to keep them distinct". I was quite suprised
>since it contradicted every source I had seen that far.
>It was even more puzzling since the dictionary rather was 
>Spanish than Swedish in origin.

Yes, it's even taught in some schools (I don't know about
Spain, but I heard that in Chile they do so).  The amazing
thing is that inscriptions and graffitti from Roman Spain 
already show the Spaniards' inability to distinguish b and
v in Latin.  I wonder how the writers of that book
recommend one should pronounce "basura" (rubbish),
which is derived from Latin "versura" (this one was too
difficult for the Academicians who standardized Spanish 
spelling).


>>Sometimes spelling wins from etymology, and you get
>>"spelling pronunciations".
>
>I guess Iberian /sweco/ is such an example.

Please explain?

-- 
Miguel Carrasquer         ____________________  ~~~
Amsterdam                [                  ||]~  
mcv@inter.NL.net         ce .sig n'est pas une .cig 
