Message-Id: <m0qUhZF-000023C@xiron.pc.helsinki.fi>
Date:         Sun, 31 Jul 1994 16:08:11 -0400
Reply-To:     Erik Rauch <rauch@CS.YALE.EDU>
Sender:       Lojban list <LOJBAN%CUVMB.bitnet@FINHUTC.hut.fi>
From:         Erik Rauch <rauch@CS.YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Lojbanized German place names
To:           Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
In-Reply-To:  <199407272017.AA12598@eli.CS.YALE.EDU>
Content-Length: 1106
Lines: 27

On Wed, 27 Jul 1994, Logical Language Group wrote:

> Erik Rauch writes:
>
> > I used the standard German pronunciation rather than that of the residents
> > of these places themselves. The "ue" sound is halfway between lojban u
> > and e, so I chose u for visual recognizability.
>
> You missed devoicing a few final consonants, as Standard NHG pronunciation
> demands.

Yes, I guess I was being too visual. But final g is a problem, as there
doesn't seem to be a standard. In my dialect it is always a fricative
("xamburx.")

> >   byn.                          Bonn
>     bon.  (Why the "y"?)

German short o sounds much closer to a schwa than a long o. Again, it's a
question of how visually you want to lojbanize when the standard
pronunciation could let you go either way (not counting the roundedness
rule). German is a problem since there are several true standards.
(A result of its history. In many areas, isoglosses still exactly follow the
boundaries of old kingdoms and duchies which disappeared with Napoleon!)


| Erik Rauch                                             rauch-erik@yale.edu |