Quote:
Originally Posted by aleCcowaN
El castellano sigue un ritmo silábico. El inglés sigue el ritmo dictado por el acento tónico. Como consecuencia, las vocales castellanas casi no cambian al comparar sílabas acentuadas con las que no son. Todo lo contrario de lo que ocurre en inglés.
I suffices to look to the pronunciation of produce/produce, contract/contract, project/project, present/present, etc.
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I don't really understand the thrust of this statement. Generally, in English, an unstressed vowel is usually weaker than when stressed, and is often reduced to a schwa. But it doesn't change to another vowel. Is this what you mean?
A good example is the word "arithmetic", stressed on the second syllable when a noun, but on the first and third when an adjective. It is a useful shibboleth when speaking to a German who thinks his English is perfect.
Getting back to the issue of running words together, friends and I have often speculated on how children manage to learn a first language when their parents are just unable to articulate properly. A friend recounted this anecdote when he was in London on holiday with his 4-year old son (who lived in Germany and had not been subjected to terrible London accents). They were standing in front of a toy-shop window, and another man was also standing there with his 4-year old. The unknown child pointed at something in the window:
Child: What's that, daddy?
Man:
snors innit
Friend's son (loudly): What did that man say, daddy?
Friend: I think he said "It is a horse, is it not?"
The odd thing was that the unknown child seemed to understand what the father had said, and we are left wondering how on earth a child can learn like that.