apostrofail

joined 3 months ago
[–] apostrofail 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In the ’90s*

[–] apostrofail 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] apostrofail -1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Syntax, not grammar

[–] apostrofail -4 points 1 month ago

found in Fx*

the source of Fx*

[–] apostrofail 0 points 1 month ago

That’s quite weird then since f & v, s & z, þ & ð are distinguishable sounds based on voicing. The only exception that is pretty wide spread for “th” sounds is in Ireland, but there is a quality difference is the aspiration between the two usually. Are you sure you are paying attention the vibrations of the throat?

[–] apostrofail -4 points 1 month ago (4 children)

[I’m] in my mid-30s*

[–] apostrofail 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Skill issue! Nah, I have met plenty people that have the same reaction (English isn’t their first language). However, these sound are distinguishable by native speaker and will leave folks confused on occasion due to the ambiguity, or worse, hearing the wrong word entirely. The good news is that it can be learned and isn’t that difficult—you could probably pick it up from a video tutorial in a couple of minutes in your native language to which then it is just practice.

[–] apostrofail -1 points 1 month ago

in my 50s* + in his 70s*

[–] apostrofail 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Ether & either are the same word in everything but the voicing of the ‘th’. Other voicing distinctions in English are like those as between fox & vox or sip & zip. Done ‘correctly’ you can feel your throat vibrate (tho not all languages have voicing & those native speakers can find it difficult).

[–] apostrofail 2 points 1 month ago

I’m* convinced

[–] apostrofail 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I know—but they used to spell the h first too. Almost everyone used to pronounce it ʍ as well, hence my theory that the pronunciation stopped after the wild choice to do a spelling reform

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_labial%E2%80%93velar_fricative

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin-script_digraphs#W

[–] apostrofail 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

They are weirder ones for sure since they look like Ps without extra training. But just slapping two Vs or Us together like the Romans is a hack compared to the historic ƿ (from Runic ᚹ).

But even stranger is why on Earth were “hw” flipped by printing press folks after hundreds of years with the h first due to pronunciation… I wouldn’t be surprised if the voiceless labial–velar fricative went out of fashion based the new spelling to where many (maybe most) speakers don’t differentiate between “w” & “wh”.

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