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From: rte@elmo.lz.att.com (Ralph T. Edwards)
Subject: Re: Acquisition of phonemes thfough foreign influences
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Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 20:05:02 GMT
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In article <43q7i7$93b@ixnews2.ix.netcom.com>, philldon@ix.netcom.com
(donald phillips ) wrote:

> Are languages known to acquire phonemes as a result of foreign
> influence?  I am thinking specifically of English after the Norman
> invasion and through the Renaissance.  It occurs to me that English has
> the 'zh' phoneme, primarily (as far as I know) in French
> borrowings'treasure', 'casual'.  German, English's close relative,
> does not.  Did 'zh' exist in English pre-1066?
>     On the other hand, the Hebrew 'cherub' and 'chutzpah' are not
> pronounced with the Hebrew 'kh' but with the English 'ch' (as in
> cheese) or 'k'.  

Zh in measure etc. is not a good example, since it's a result of a native
sound shift /zj/->/Z/.  However the original french u sound /y/ in middle
English, before it broke into /ju/ presumably is a good example.

It is widely alleged that French has acquired /N/ to pronounce the -ing
borrowings (and new formations) in French.  This is a new development in
the last twenty or thirty years.  New dictionaries include this
pronunciation
in place of the old gn pronunciation (hook on the first leg of the n).

I pronounce chutzpah /hUtspA/ (or emphatically /xUtspA/).

-- 
R.T.Edwards rte@elmo.att.com 908 576-3031
