From: benlizro@ihug.co.nz   
      
   On 23/03/2025 12:41 p.m., Christian Weisgerber wrote:   
   > On 2025-03-22, Christian Weisgerber  wrote:   
   >   
   >> It turns out that the "Latvian" dialogue actually flips back and   
   >> forth between Latvian and Russian.  Since I know neither language,   
   >> simply distinguishing the two is already an effort for me.  (Akanye   
   >> helps.)   
   >   
   > Actually, I think it isn't so much akanye specifically as that   
   > Russian generally reduces unstressed vowels.  Latvian not so much.   
   > And now that I look at Wikipedia's "Latvian phonology" page, I see   
   > that Latvian distinguishes vowel quantity even in unstressed   
   > syllables.   
   >   
      
   This reminded me of the first time I had a chance to hear Latvian spoken   
   (some distinguished Latvian being interviewed on TV, with subtitles).   
   Knowing some Russian, and a very little Finnish, my impression was that   
   it sounded like Russian spoken with a Finnish accent. Which, on   
   reflection, makes some linguistic sense. And your point about vowel   
   reduction was probably an important part of that impression.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)