Re: Your first "linguistic" memory

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 15:02:50 GMT: "Peter T. Daniels"
<grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: in sci.lang:

>If you know that "val" (whatever that is) \

Same as the English noun "fall" (when not meaning autumn).

>and FAL are different words,

They are different all right, but is FAL really a Dutch word? Nobody
except conscripts (which we no longer have) you were then trained in
using that gun ever use it. I think this type of gun is no longer in
use now. So millions of native speakers have no idea what it is, and
don't want to know. It is not in the Van Dale dictionary. So is it a
Dutch word? I really don't know.

>> >You claimed that there is no phonemic difference between the two words.
>> >How is that not a serious question?
>>
>> <zestien> = [zEstin]
>> <zestig> = [sest@X], because it was once t'zestig.
>> Clearer now?
>
>Not at all. How are [-Estin] and [-est@X] even remotely similar? What is
>your phonemicization of those two words?

Not the point. The point is: how can such a distinction survive in a
language in which /s/ and /z/ may arguably not even be different
phonemes? They're not allophones either, because the difference can
only be explained by historic developments, not by phonetic context.
>> Hahaha. Of course I do. It's spoken on islands that belong to the same
>> kingdom as the Netherlands itself, remember? Every common libabry has
>> books about it here.
>
>(What kingdom do both the Netherlands and Aruba/Bonaire/Curaçao belong
>to?)

Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, with the "Rijksdelen" Nederland, Aruba
and the Nederlandse Antillen. The (tiny) islands are Aruba, Bonaire,
Curaçau, St.Eustacius, (half of) St. Maarten, and Saba.

Cf. Canada and Australia, which are not Great Britain, but are or were
under the same Queen.

--
Ruud Harmsen - http://rudhar.com

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