Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!gatech!EU.net!sun4nl!phcoms4.seri.philips.nl!newssvr!causus!dacosta
From: dacosta@prl.philips.nl (Paulo da Costa)
Subject: Re: Voiceless L
Message-ID: <dacosta.805362538@causus>
Originator: dacosta@causus
Sender: news@prl.philips.nl (USENET News System)
Organization: Philips Research Laboratories Eindhoven, Netherlands
References: <3t9qqc$3ut@clarknet.clark.net> <DB5xn7.MMC@midway.uchicago.edu> <3taa6c$nhm@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> <3tpcqg$qd2@gordon.enea.se>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 07:48:58 GMT
Lines: 31

In <3tpcqg$qd2@gordon.enea.se> sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog) writes:

>Corey Reid says:
[...]
>>mal             [maw]
>>Brazil          [bra 'siw]

>Another poster pointed out that this pronouciation is not used
>in Portugal which seems to fit with my tiny experience of Portuguese.

Depends on the context. The "l" is velarised, and can easily become [w].

>However [w] for /l/ seems to appear in Portugal too. I have an album
>with a group called GNR and one of their songs is called "Ana Lee"
>which comes across as [an@ wi]. Judging from the name of the album,
>"Rock in Rio Douro", the band is from Northern Portugal, and the 
>singer seem to apply some sort of dialect. "Fronteira" is rather
>[fro~ntair@],.

Well, [fro~nta~jr@] (or something like that) is standard European
Portuguese (they don't really say [ai], do they?). "L" in words like
"lirio" is palatalised (at least in Brazil), could that be what you're
hearing, "Ana Lhee"? Characteristic of northern Portugal are intrusive
[j] before initial stressed a ("a iarvore", "a ialma") and exchanging
v and b sounds ("a baca", "o varco). Both sound very funny to a
Brazilian.
-- 
Paulo M. C(astello) da Costa,  /\/\/\  Minha terra tem palmeiras  /\/\/\
Philips Research Laboratories, \/\/\/  Onde canta o sabia'...     \/\/\/
Building WAY5 093, Prof. Holstlaan 4, 5656 AA Eindhoven, The Netherlands
E-mail: dacosta@prl.philips.nl  Phone: +31 40 742147  FAX: +31 40 744657
