Iberian v vs. b

[Llu'is Batlle i Rossell <viric@vicerveza.homeunix.net>]

Well... I forgot posting something about "b" and "v".

We (Spanish and Catalan speakers) don't really pronounce "v" different than "b".
Well, some people in Valencian Contry (East of Spain) pronounce them different.
Even thought, in old-spanish and old-catalan, "v" was pronounced like lojban
"v".

But xorxes noticed another problem: making "b" sound explosive. We only do that
at the beginning of a word, or after a non-sounding consonant (maybe some more
cases). Between vowels we pronounce what I call <approximated b>. Well, catalan
papers about pronunciation use that nomenclature.

It has the problem that that "b" isn't explosive, but it isn't fricative!! So
it's not a "v". We're very used at using <approximated b>, so we always identify
it with "b" (supposing we're pronouncing "v" correctly").
Maybe speakers of other languages find <approximative b> nearer to lojban "v"
than lojban "b".

I think that catalan and spanish (at least) phenomena only occurs in "b"...
Anyway, the subject of this mail is "b" and "v". :)


Bye!! I hope this information helps!

-- 
 "... el quid de la qüestió està en l'educació: en la filosofia didàctica,
  l'opció ignorància hauria d'existir: tu què vols ser? Jo, enginyer; jo, metge;
  jo, ignorant: és a dir, vull aprendre a viure però no vull saber-ho tot."
     -- Pau Riba, entrevista a "Paper de Vidre", núm. 5