Re: Brithenig diphthongs (was: Yiddish influences in Brithenig)

[raybrown@macline.co.uk (Raymond A. Brown)]

At 19:53 6/5/98, Andrew Smith wrote:
>On Tue, 5 May 1998, Raymond A. Brown wrote:
[....]
>> 2) In my copy {ae} is shown as identical with {ai} and {oe} with {oi} (this
>> is not the case in Welsh except among those to whom Welsh is a 2nd - or
>> 3rd, 4th etc - language).  Is this intended?  If so, why does Brithening
>> have this double representation for each diphthong?
>>
>It was 'convenient' to blur this distinction.  My background reading led
>me to believe that even some South Walian speakers to not maintain this
>distinction,

This is correct in that ae & oe have fallen together with ai & oi in the
Welsh of the anglicized south east.  If you move westward, however, you
find the pronunciations [a:] and [o:] are common for these digraphs.  When
I taught in Croesyceiliog in SE Wales a Welsh speaking colleague of mine
always called Felin Foel ['vElIn vo:l] (maybe Sally sample a pint or two of
FF during her sojourn in Wales  :-)

I'm told that the Gogs in the north pronounce them the same as their {au} &
{ou}, i.e. the tongue moves towards the high _central_ position of the
north Walian {u} (IPA barred-i).  In the south {u} & {i} have universally
fallen together as /i/, and certainly {au} and {ou} have fallen together
with {ai} and {oi} in the south also.  But, as you see above, this has not
happened universally with {ae} & {oe}.

>so I let it pass.  I'll have to go back and read up on the
>e-final diphthongs now.

OK.

>Just when I think my update is ready, something else needs to be
>corrected.  I know how the Prophet Zarquon feels!  But thank you for your
>comments.

Sorry  :=(

Raifun.

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Written in Net English        Humor not necessarily marked

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