[throwaway_4638]

Actually there is a (nearly imperceptible) difference between the pronunciation of ei and ij, at least in my local region. For the "ij" sound the tongue is pushed into a slightly narrower bowl in the middle, while on the "ei" sound there is no tension on the tongue at all.

[wjnc]

For me as well. Dutch Brabant. The ‘ei’ has a shorter tongue movement than the ‘ij’. I’ve tried several words and my tongue doesn’t reach my bottom jaw as hard in ‘ei’ as in ‘ij’. Can’t hear myself though. “In Leiden lijden lijsters leidzaam.” First and last feel more alike than the middle two.

I do love these minute and local details of linguistics and history. We look at Chinese as a hard language because of the sounds influencing meaning while having (trivially!) nuanced examples as well.

Don’t get me started on Greek / Roman / Germanic heritage of words and sounds. I love this.