[alt-photo] Re: voiced fricatives

[Louis de Stoutz]

Hi Judy, Loris, et al.

(Serious workers who are short of time please refrain...)

Although I'm aware that it's really bad manners for a looong time silent 
lurker to suddenly jump into an already overstressed OT subject, I can't 
resist "adding my grain of salt" (and be it silver-salt) as we say in 
French for "intervening without having been asked" - quite different 
from the English meaning of "taking with a grain of salt". So please 
forgive me and take it as a compliment for the always entertaining 
social exchanges on this beloved list.

As you know there are cultures (languages) where foreign words are 
"distorted" and adapted to the local pronunciation, and others where 
people try to stay close to the original. American English seems (to me) 
to belong to the former, but if you nonetheless wanted to stay somewhat 
close to the (modern) Greek pronunciation of "argyro", you would want to 
go for "jee".

Loris' wonderful term of "voiced fricative" stands exactly for what you 
found, Judy: Take a word like "yippee" or "to yip". In order to 
differentiate the "y" from the ee-sound of the following "i", you will 
have to put the tongue closer to the palate and thus the air flow will 
be heard during the "y". That's how the modern Greek Gamma (g) sounds in 
"argyro". There is no trace of a "d" and "sh" like the "dj" of "jee".

With kindest regards and apologies,

Louis


PS: Loris, isn't it funny that you send a link to the word "argyria" 
just when I am reading about colloidal silver for immunity enhancing... 
  Maybe a word of warning not to overdo it :-)


Loris Medici wrote:
> Hi Judy, how about gymnasium? It's the first letter but is pronounced with
> the soft g... BTW, being (almost a native) francophone, no one will be able
> to have me pronounce gynecology with the hard g, it's just absolutely
> impossible for me. Your (hard g) pronounciation sound so wrong to my ears
> that I'd prefer to pronounce it in the "wrong" way (to your American ears I
> mean), with a soft g... :)
> 
> Regards,
> Loris.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org
> [mailto:alt-photo-process-list-bounces at lists.altphotolist.org] On Behalf Of
> Judy Seigel
> Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:20 AM
> To: The alternative photographic processes mailing list
> Subject: [alt-photo] Re: voiced fricatives
> 
> On Tue, 12 Jan 2010, Loris Medici wrote:
> 
> ...
> However, for what it's worth, in English, the "y" after the "g" makes the g
> soft, as in gyroscope, tho not, for instance, in gynecology (if you want an
> argument). Tho that could be because it's the first letter in the word,
> which can break the rule.
> ...
> 
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