Synthesized answer
Groth notes that the "glottal catch" makes Danish pronunciation more difficult for English speakers than Norwegian pronunciation [1]. This phonetic challenge, also referred to as a "glottal stop" or "Stødtone," is produced by a temporary closure of the glottis and an interruption of the voice, resulting in a sound akin to a cough or hiccough [2].
The passages do not explicitly detail how this specific phonetic challenge might necessitate different learning strategies or pedagogical approaches for students of Danish compared to Norwegian. However, it is stated that Danish pronunciation, with its "glottal catch" and other peculiarities, presents more difficulties to English-speaking students than Norwegian pronunciation [1]. The passages describe the glottal stop's function in Danish, including its occurrence in monosyllabic words and its ability to distinguish word pairs [2, 4]. They also mention that the glottal stop is characterized by its absence in polysyllabic words [5].
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
about two years, and meanwhile there have appeared a couple of Danish or Norwegian grammars that may deserve this name. The reason why I have given my book the somewhat cumbersome title of a "Danish and Dano-Norwegian Grammar" will be apparent from the "Introduction." As regards the use of the book I would advise the student first to make up his mind, whether he wants to study the pure Danish language or the Dano-Norwegian language. This must to a large extent depend upon personal and practical considerations. The tourist, the commercial traveller, the merchant may need to study one branch of…
mportance. Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and other particles as well as auxiliary verbs are as a rule unaccented. When a word is used in the sentence without stress it is subject to different changes, such as abbreviation of long sounds, loss of glottal stop (see § 76) and even loss of a part of their substance (see §§ 65 and 16). Sometimes the whole meaning of a sentence is changed by a change of accent: Min Ven gi'k igen my friend left again, min Ven gik ige'n my friend reappeared (as a ghost, haunted the house). GLOTTAL STOP. 76 . The accent stress (including in some cases the…
ronunciation, and that the tongue normally has a more advanced and flattened position than with English speaking people. SOUND VALUE OF DANISH VOWELS AND THEIR GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION IN COMMON ORTHOGRAPHY. 11 . A has a sound very near that of English a in father, although not quite as deep (somewhat palatalized). Ex. long: Gade street, Abe monkey; short: Hat hat, Tak thanks. Note . The long a has in the vulgar Copenhagen pronunciation a sound very near English a in fat prolonged. The foreigner must avoid imitating this pronunciation. 12 . æ (long) has the same sound as English ai in air; Ex.:…
ne single voiced consonant). 2) many dissyllables in -el, -en and -er ; Ex.: Æ*sel donkey, Vin*ter winter, A*sen donkey. 3) the radical syllable of many compound verbs, adjectives, adverbs and nouns derived from verbs, where the glottal stop is lacking in the non-compound words: Ex.: ( h ) jemsø*ge to visit, Me'dskyl*dig accomplice, Ankla*ger accuser. 4) in some foreign words: Kano*n, Stude*nt, Ame*rika . 78 . The glottal stop serves to distinguish pairs of words which otherwise would have the same sound: 1) the definite form of monosyllables from that of dissyllables ending in - e , the…
olysyllabic words is characterized by the absence of the glottal stop. [The glottal stop is here indicated by (*).] 77 . The glottal stop chiefly occurs in the following cases (although there is some difference between the various dialects and also individually as to its use): 1) a great many monosyllables: Ma*nd man, Hu*s house, faa* few (always in monosyllables consisting of long vowel sound followed by consonant (excepting Fa'r, Mo'r, Bro'r, Pe'r, Pov'l which are originally dissyllabic) or short vowel sound followed by two voiced consonants; as a rule in those ending in a long vowel or…
More questions about this book
- Explain the practical and historical reasons behind Groth's "somewhat cumbersome title," and how it reflects the linguistic relationship between Danish and Norwegian in the late 19th century.
- If you were an English-speaking student in 1894, how would Groth's advice guide your choice between studying "pure Danish" or "Dano-Norwegian," considering your personal and professional goals?
- Describe, as if teaching a classmate, how Groth's grammar is structured to accommodate students learning either Danish or Norwegian, specifically detailing the navigational instructions he provides. What does this structure imply about the differences he identifies between the two languages?
- Considering Groth's motivation—filling a "lack" of a reliable grammar—what can we infer about the available resources and the perceived needs of English-speaking students learning Scandinavian languages in the late 19th century?