Re: Language change that complicates the syllable structure

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003, Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Given the ubiquity of vowel elision, consonant weakening and loss of
> inflections, I sometimes find myself wondering why all human languages have
> not long since devolved into Ugh ...
I think the answer to that is that onsets are generally preferred. The
question, then, becomes why haven't all human languages long since
devolved into Ghu.

> (Ugh is an IAL that have been suggested on this list. It's chief selling point
> is simplicity (as well as bringing about world peace, universal happiness and
> free internet access for all, of course); everything translates into it as
> _ugh_ [@M\] (that's schwa followed by a velar approximant). In good IAL
> tradition, it's a radical improvement on its best-forgotten ancestor, Uk. Uk
> chiefly differs by having a velar stop instead of approximate, making it
> unpronunceable for exactly 0.01034% of the human race - they were so
> elitistically exclusive in the bad old days.
I would've thought fewer languages had [M\] than [k]?

> For those having difficulty with the unnatural complications of English
> phonetics, syntax and vocabulary, or just can't stand the multitude of
> mutually exclusive reprehensive ideologies built into its grammar, here's my
> entire message in Ugh:
>
> ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh
>
> ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh [@M\] ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh
>
> ughugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh)
Another good one is Chicken. The Parking Lot is Full was a good comic.
Pity I found it a month before it ended.

(or in chicken: Chicken chicken chicken Chicken. Chicken chicken chicken
chicken. Chicken chicken chicken chicken.

(Chicken is a hard word to type over and over again.)

--
Tristan                  <kesuari@...>

Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still
be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement.
                -- Snoopy

Replies