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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/28/2020 10:39 AM, Will Martin
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:9C92409C-E1CE-42D5-BC52-12C209AF5A59@mac.com">While I
completely agree with you, I do so with the understanding that, as
in Japanese or Danish, a long vowel is a vowel literally held for
a longer duration. The pronunciation of the long vowel doesn’t
shift in either of those languages the way that what we call a
“long” vowel shifts in English.<br>
</blockquote>
<p>When I said "long," I meant it in the sense of <i>lengthened,</i>
not as the diphthong English "long o." Okrand's pronunciation of <b>toD</b>
and <b>lenHom</b> includes a <i>lengthened</i> <b>o.</b><br>
</p>
<p>English "long" vowels were once actually lengthened vowels in Old
English that had values closer to the Latin values. During the
Great Vowel Shift the lengthened vowels turned into diphthongs. We
still call them long, though in English that means a particular
set of diphthongs. And we still have literally long and short
vowels in English, but they rarely play any semantic role. Most
people don't even hear them. (For instance, the word <i>cheese</i>
is pronounced with a "long <i>e,</i>" and it is also literally
lengthened. The vowel's length is what turns the written <i>s</i>
into a voiced <i>z.</i> But if you shorten the <i>e</i> sound to
rhyme with <i>fleece,</i> it's still the same word, just
pronounced strangely.)<br>
</p>
<p>It may be that Okrand is influenced by his American accent:
because <b>toD</b> and <b>Hom</b> both end with voiced
consonants, he may be lengthening the <b>o</b> the way you would
in English.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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