From: Jan van Steenbergen (ijzeren_jan@yahoo.co.uk)
Date: Mon May 12 2003 - 20:18:37 EST
--- Christophe Grandsire skrzypszy:
> Indeed, I've often been surprised at that ;))) . I often feel like saying
> *"achtig" but manage to correct myself before it's too late ;))) . BTW, do
> you know where the extra "t" comes from?
Well, what I remember is that this "t-" was already inserted in the period of
Early Middle Dutch. I should check where it comes from; probably from the
preposition "te", but I have no idea why.
Anyway, this "t-" was prefixed not only before 80, but also before 60, 70, and
90. Thus:
(t)zestig > zestig
(t)zeventig > zeventig
(t)achtig > tachtig
(t)negentig > negentig
In other words: the "t" was present in all these cases, but except for
"tachtig" it always dropped. But behold: it left some traces in the
pronunciation! While "zes" and "zeven" ought to be pronounced [zEs] and
['zef@n], the correct pronunciation of "zestig" and "zeventig" is still
['sEst@x] and ['sef@nt@x] (what matters in this case is of course only the
first letter; the rest can vary by dialect).
Voicing of the first letter of 60 or 70 can be heard sometimes, but that is a
typical example of hypercorrection, and to my ears it sounds strange.
> PS: Yes indeed, I'm back! ;))) .
I noticed. Welcome back! :)))
Jan
=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones
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