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From: labov@central.cis.upenn.edu
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 16:59:05 -0500
Dear Professor Stroop,
I can't thank you enough for calling my attention to your web site.
It is full of interesting material which I am profiting from. The
sound samples come through clearly and quickly. I am particlarly interested
in the discussion of ABN Dutch, because I hear the current (ij) diphthong
as having a fully fronted nucleus. This has always been puzzling to
me because from all other Germanic languages, I must infer that the
route is a nonperipheral descent with backed nuclei. I don't have
enough data to measure the whole system of your ABN speaker, but listening
to this mid nucleus, I seem to hear the expected centralization which
contrasts [e(i] with [e)i]. I hope to cite these data in a paper that
I am preparing with Ron Kim of our department on the creation of this
type of phonological space as a West Germanic innovation.
With many thanks,
Bill Labov |
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