February 24th, 2009
Have you noticed that every language seems to deamonize a particular letter of the alphabet? Users of the language either refuse to pronounce it, or they pronounce it as a different sound, or they banish it altogether.
Polish
Polish has excommunicated the V. This is really strange, because all its linguistic neighbors use the V all the time. All words get rewritten with Ws instead.
Norwegian
Norwegian vowels are heavy, industrial strength. Somehow this has made the O into a Polish U or an English OO. To compensate for this lacking, the Å was invented as a makeshift O.
English
English has caught onto the fact that V and W are really the same sound, and have co-opted the W for a completely different sound. Polish has a ready made letter for this sound: the Ł.
English also disfavors the J, and uses the Y as a J when need be.
Needless to say, the R was mutated into a sound that defies definition. This is lost on many English natives who plainly assume that the crazy English R is the standard for all languages.
French
French refuses to pronounce the H, yet it keeps using it in written form.
French also uses the J as a Polish Ż.
The R, of course, is the most eccentric of them. It was made into a gargling sound that stings the throat.
Dutch
Dutch will pronounce the G only as an H. And the H.. er.. also as an H. It may be that the G and the H are slightly different in speech, but if so it still eludes me how.
Spanish
Spanish doesn't like the J. In its place it improvised the LL (but also the Y is used for this). The J is used as an H, in place of the real H, which refuses to be pronounced. Sounds pretty obsessive, doesn't it?
And the V becomes a B, depending on who you ask.
Italian
Like all its latin friends, Italian pretends the H doesn't exist, but still keeps writing it.
Good read Martin, interesting stuff.
Don't even get me started on Basque...
Basque, huh? What have you been doing with your nights ;)
I'm just glad you haven't bothered to learn Dutch cause you'd fill a book with a hateful rant on Dutch vowel combinations :D
Martin: Actually, my very limited knowledge of Basque comes from looking at footballers' names, like Bixente Lizarazu and Joseba Etxeberria.
btw you might find this interesting:
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/362-greek-to-me-mapping-mutual-incomprehension/
I wonder what say English speakers say once they learn Greek. :)
I wouldn't say the Dutch G is pronounced like H (at least from a Norwegian pronunciation point of view). I would rather say that a Dutch G is the sound you make when you are clearing your throat or hocking a loogie.
I'm no expert in Dutch though, but I'm able to speak a little bit when forced to.