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From: rdd@usa1.com (Aaron J. Dinkin)
Subject: Re: vereisen/verreisen
Message-ID: <rdd-0708960837250001@dmn1-53.usa1.com>
Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 08:37:25 -0500
References: <4tltjf$f1e@carrera.intergate.bc.ca> <32068798.40DB@students.wisc.edu> <4u6k0l$9ch@cronkite.polaristel.net> <4u74c0$6bo@news.xs4all.nl> <4u7km8$1p0@brachio.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE> <4u8iuo$31e@epimetheus.algonet.se>
Lines: 24

In article <4u8iuo$31e@epimetheus.algonet.se>, sommar@algonet.se (Erland
Sommarskog) wrote:

> Thus quoth anno4000@lublin.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE (Anno Siegel):
> >The glottal stop is even retained when in a composite word (which abound
> >in German) it is the first sound of the second component.  This helps 
> >elevate the unobtrusive little sound to phoneme status.  A minimal pair 
> >is "verreisen" (travel away) and "vereisen" (become covered with ice).
> >The only difference in pronunciation is a glottal stop before "eis.."
> >in the latter.  It is there, because it is part of "Eis" (ice), and is
> >absent in the former because it's not part of "reisen" (travel).
> 
> My German is not in the best shape, but wouldn't "verreisen" be [fe@Raiz@n]
> and "vereisen" be [fe@?aiz@n]? When I try say [veR?aiz@n] I'm having a
> real hard time.

I don't know any German (lexically, I mean), but I've examined the
language's phonology, and what you're interpreting as [veR?aiz@n]
(phonetically) should actually be /fER aI z@n/ (phonemically) - however,
postvocalic /R/, as we all know, turns into a velar approximant or the
like. Feel free to correct me if I don't know what I'm talking about.

-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom

