what makes English Germanic?

>>I think that english-speakers don't like to have their language in the german group and would prefer to have their language with french and spanish etc... I like german!!! Poor german, always disliked!!

*crys* that nobody doesn't like the german language !!! :-( It's my favourite foreign language.<<

You are obviously overlooking those English-speakers who'd like to "purify" the English language and return it to its Germanic roots, be it by coining new words using native roots, returning old words (from Old English, Middle English, or Early New English) to use (and potentially giving them new meanings), calquing words from other Germanic languages, or even borrowing words from other Germanic languages, need be. Of course, such is not practical, which is why such has not happened, but there are definitely those who would desire such were such practical.

Oar dhat sjûd by:

Ju aar obviüsli ooverlûkking dhooz ingglisjspiekerz huud laik tu "piurifai" dhe ingglisj langgwidj and ritúrn it tu its djermánnik ruuts, by it bai koining niu wurdz iuzing netiv ruuts, ritúrning oold wurdz (from ooldingglisj, middelingglisj, oar erliniuingglisj) tu ius (and poténtjalli giving dhem niu mieningz), kalking wurdz from udher djermánnik langgwidjiz, oar yven borrouing wurdz from udher djermánnik langgwidjiz, nyd by. Ov kours, sutj iz not praktikal, hwitj iz hwai sutj haz not happend, but dheer aar definitli dhooz hu wûd dizáir sutj wer sutj praktikal.

(Ai kûddent help it - Sorri.)

Ai kaind of laik dhis spelling sistem. It meaks Ingglisj siim egzottik and mistiirios, dho it iz haard to riid.

It is primarily hard to read because it does not really follow the conventions of current English spelling, even though the phonemes it represents are actually often very close to current English spelling, moreso than many other orthographic reform schemes (as it is fundamentally very conservative in nature, as opposed to just trying to represent a single current dialect or standard as spoken today.)

And actually, you got that pretty close; I'd write that as:

"Ai kaind ov laik dhis spelling sistem. It meeks ingglisj sym igzóttik and mistíriüs, dho it iz haard tu ryd". (Mind you that "y" is just a ligature for "ii" here.)

Of course the problem all of these systems run into is that some pronunciation differences between varieties are not predictable by accent alone. For example, I don't use [I] in the first syllable of 'exotic', I have [%Eg"zQ.4Ik]. Same thing with 'tomato' /t@.me.to/ or /t@.mA.to/, etc.

>>Of course the problem all of these systems run into is that some pronunciation differences between varieties are not predictable by accent alone. For example, I don't use [I] in the first syllable of 'exotic', I have [%Eg"zQ.4Ik]. Same thing with 'tomato' /t@.me.to/ or /t@.mA.to/, etc.<<

In most cases, I tend to resolve this by choosing the most conservative or, failing that, least reduced form (as far as such involves maintaining a consistent phonology), even if such involves individuals having to simply memorize that the pronunciations for their own dialects are not consistent with what is written down. For instance, I am not representing the lot-cloth split, the trap-bath split, or the shift of /Q/ to /V/ in some words in North American English, and these will simply have to be remembered by the speakers of the dialects to which they apply.

(On that note, I probably would actually spell "exotic" as "êgzóttik" (the circumflex is to indicate that this is /E/, because <e> in syllables without the primary stress is normally /@/ except before another vowel letter, where then it is /e/), as /E/ is less reduced than /I/ here.)

As for cases like /t@"meto/ versus /t@"mAto/, though, such would be harder to resolve. For clear loanwords which have not been nativized, I would just not touch them, and just use either the native orthography of the source language in question, if such uses some variation upon Roman script, or else some transliteration/transcription of such. However, in cases where words have been nativized and yet there are multiple competing versions, where none is clearly more conservative, I would probably choose the form that is either most faithful with respect to the source language pronunciation (especially with more recent loans) or which is simply the most widespread, failing all other ways of choosing between forms.

At the same time, I would try to fit such within the vowel system that is represented, which may include importing distinctions from other dialects other than those in which a particular form is used natively. The main matter is that the orthography seeks to represent a far more complex vowel system than is present in the vast majority of English dialects, including distinctions like /@/ versus /V/ which may be absent in, say, most North American English dialects, or like /e/ versus /EI/ which are absent in most English dialects today altogether. In this context, for example, even if a loanword's pronunciation is taken from NAE, whether /@/ or /V/ are used in places may be following conventions used outside most NAE dialects (for instance, Latinate words ending in "-us" taken from NAE would take /Vs/ and not /@s/ for such, even though most NAE dialects do not make this distinction, due to pronunciations of Latinate words in dialects outside NAE).

On that note, I really need to find out more on Scottish English, as it includes the /Er/~/Ir/~/Vr/ (or /Ur/) distinction, which is represented systematically by this orthography even though it is absent altogether in practically all other English dialects, save maybe some Irish English dialects. For this I am relying way too much on the current English orthography, and would prefer to actually base such off historical English forms and, failing that, Scottish English pronunciations.

<<I think that english-speakers don't like to have their language in the german group and would prefer to have their language with french and spanish etc... I like german!!! Poor german, always disliked!! >>

Pauline, I think you've touched on something here. It's cultivated or political I believe...

Hallo arthur!!!!

>>brennus doesn't accept german on this forum- everytime somethings are in this language he dlete them all!!!>>

"Tja, lassen wir uns erstmal sehen, ob der noch lebt..."

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LOL!!! Ob er lebt oder nciht ist mir vollig egal!!!




>>Andererseits, die Leute, die das English in derselben Familie wie Fr,Sp gerne haben würden, haben überhaupt keine Ahnung von Sprachen.

Ich hoffe, Dir geht es sehr gut!!
J'espère que ça aille très bien pour toi!!
Espero que estés muy bien!!>>

Ja, danke, es geht mir gut!! :-) Ich hoffe, dass es dir auch gut geht!!! Wie Schade, dass du Langcafé nicht besuchst!! Es wäre ganz toll sein wenn du auch dort schreiben würdest.

ich fidne es auch so, dass Englisch selbstverständlich eine germanische sprache ist, und wer anders sagt die Sprachen nicht kennt und auch keine Ahnung davon hat.

En langcafé también tenemos conversaciones en español :-) Hay una francesa que se llama Yelina, la americana Deborah y yo qui escriben allí, y de vez en cuando algunos otros aunque pocos : sería fenomenál si nos visitarías allí!!!

qué tiempo hace donde vives? Aquí hace mucho calor y desde hace algunas semanas siempre sol. Eso no es normal en abril.

Hasta luego

Who makes these boring questions?

Verba volant, scripta manent...

Hallo Arthur!!!

Wo bist du???!!

Viele Grüßen,
Pauline

Ich weiß nicht wo er ist, aber ich bin hier

Hallo Pauline,

Ich bin im Moment auf der Arbeit. Ich versuche diese Woche noche einmal, mich im Langcafé zu registrieren. Solange trinke ich hier einen leckeren Kaffee, und denke an die gute Freundin aus Belgien... ;)

À bientôt y que vaya todo bien!!!

Hallo Guest und Arthr!!!

Ihr beide seid herzlich wilkommen Langcafé zu besuchen.

http://langcafe2.myfreeforum.org/

Seit meinem letzten Bericht gibt's eine neue Besucherin vom spanischen Thread dort, es wird deshalb immer gemütlicher und interessanter :-)

Auf dem deutschen Thread sind einige Leute, die vorher hier besuchten bis Brennus alle unser gespräche weggeschmissen hat: aquatar, icke (früher "ich") Tiorthan, Frederik usw.. Fred besucht aber wenig während der letzter Zeit. neulich hatten Tiorthan und ich ein bisschen übertrieben ernsthaftes Gespräch, aber im allgemein und sicher ab jetzt reden wir von tolle Sachen und alles was ihr wollt, also bis dann!!!

Guest, bist du derselber Person mit wem ich vor ungefähr einige Monaten gerdet habe? Wenn ja, hoffe ich, dass es dir gut geht!!!! Auch wenn du jemand anders bist LOL!!

Grüßen
Pauline