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palatalization of "s"
Feb. 23rd, 2011 10:53 amAre you ever tempted to pronounce "street" as "shtreet"? When I pronounce "Mercer Street", it almost sounds like "mersher shtreet" or "mersher shchreet" (regarding the palatalization in "Mercer", I'm not sure if the "r" or the "s" in "street" is responsible, or both).
Of course, the palatalization of "s" (and "z") before consonants exists in my coastal Brazilian accent as well as European Portuguese. (Much of NE Brazil has partial palatalization, i.e. before "t" but not before "m" but I, like the Portuguese and the Rio natives, seem to have the full set)
However, saying "shtreet" seems to be common in native speakers of English, regardless of dialect or sobriety. (And somehow the words "sugar" and "pleasure" underwent palatalization, assuming that today's spelling is a fossile of yesterday's pronunciation)
Palatalization of "s" is also common in German (initial "s" before consonants, so e.g. "Kunst" is not palatalized, except perhaps for dialects like Schwäbisch...) and I wonder if Russian's ubiquitous "sh" sounds were once "s"s. I am not aware of palatalization in French or Dutch. In fact, I am tempted to say that Dutch has no "sh" sound at all since words like "school" are pronounced [sxol]1. Speaking of Dutch, there are several Dutch-German pairs like "slapen"(NL)-"schlafen"(DE) where the German spelling caught up with the speech and several more where it hasn't, e.g. "Stern", "Speisen").
I hear there is a European Spanish dialect with strong palatalization of "s", but I don't remember which one. Perhaps Andalusians would find it natural to pronounce my first name the way I do.
Brazilians often perceive palatalization in English, as is evidenced by the fact that most Brazilians pronounce "two" as [tʃu] when the L1 pronunciation is typically [tsu] (with a very weak "s").
Thanks for reading!
-guʃ'tavu la'sɛxda
P.S. does palatalization of "s" count as "lenition"? why or why not?
1 - I would be lying of course, as anyone named Sjoerd would be happy to tell you. However, this is not a Dutch name, but a Frisian one. But the point stands: Dutch people can pronounce "sh", although it's a foreign sound. Italians use a similar spelling pattern: "sh-" (EN) = "sci-" (IT) = "sj-" (NL) = "sch-" (DE).
Of course, the palatalization of "s" (and "z") before consonants exists in my coastal Brazilian accent as well as European Portuguese. (Much of NE Brazil has partial palatalization, i.e. before "t" but not before "m" but I, like the Portuguese and the Rio natives, seem to have the full set)
However, saying "shtreet" seems to be common in native speakers of English, regardless of dialect or sobriety. (And somehow the words "sugar" and "pleasure" underwent palatalization, assuming that today's spelling is a fossile of yesterday's pronunciation)
Palatalization of "s" is also common in German (initial "s" before consonants, so e.g. "Kunst" is not palatalized, except perhaps for dialects like Schwäbisch...) and I wonder if Russian's ubiquitous "sh" sounds were once "s"s. I am not aware of palatalization in French or Dutch. In fact, I am tempted to say that Dutch has no "sh" sound at all since words like "school" are pronounced [sxol]1. Speaking of Dutch, there are several Dutch-German pairs like "slapen"(NL)-"schlafen"(DE) where the German spelling caught up with the speech and several more where it hasn't, e.g. "Stern", "Speisen").
I hear there is a European Spanish dialect with strong palatalization of "s", but I don't remember which one. Perhaps Andalusians would find it natural to pronounce my first name the way I do.
Brazilians often perceive palatalization in English, as is evidenced by the fact that most Brazilians pronounce "two" as [tʃu] when the L1 pronunciation is typically [tsu] (with a very weak "s").
Thanks for reading!
-guʃ'tavu la'sɛxda
P.S. does palatalization of "s" count as "lenition"? why or why not?
1 - I would be lying of course, as anyone named Sjoerd would be happy to tell you. However, this is not a Dutch name, but a Frisian one. But the point stands: Dutch people can pronounce "sh", although it's a foreign sound. Italians use a similar spelling pattern: "sh-" (EN) = "sci-" (IT) = "sj-" (NL) = "sch-" (DE).