[cafe] Re: Catalan pronunciation

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Catalan Grammar *
II. The pronunciation of Catalan
     b / v(which in Catalan have the same sound) and d sound like in Engl. b
or d, except when they are placed between two vowels; in this case, the
pronunciation is "smoother" (e. g. baralla / roba, valor / cava, dia /
cada ).

So, how to explain that? According to this "Vella" should be pronounced like
"b" in "bed", isn't it? This is from on-line Catalan Grammar.
BTW "V" Kiev is indeed pronounced as "ff" :-))

> In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Bethlem Boronat - AndorraWEB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
> >
> >Vella is pronounced as "v" like in "kiev"
> >
> That could be misleading as some English speaking people pronounce Kiev
> as if it were "kief".  Vella, I think, should be pronounced with a pure
> V sound.
>
> The confusion between V and B is understandable.  In some old documents
> Envalira is written as "Embalira".  Catalan, like French and Spanish, is
> derived from Latin and, in many respects, is closer to Latin than either
> of those languages.  It is said that the confusion between V and B arose
> because Roman soldiers wore helmets with tight chin straps.  This made
> it difficult to pronounce the V sound clearly as it requires greater jaw
> movement than B.
>
> Would I be right to think that Vella should be pronounced with the "ll"
> muted - almost the same as one would say "veya" and not unlike the
> Spanish "vieja"?
> --
> E. J. Jewell   <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>   <URL:http://apsc.free.fr/> Andorran Philatelic Study Circle
>
>
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