Re: JIAL phonology and morphology

On Fri, 4 May 2001 John Cowan wrote:
(Regarding his new conlang's structure:)

> The syllable structure is CV.
[snip]
> All monosyllabic words are unstressed, and serve as function
> words.
> All longer words are stressed on the first syllable.  There
> is a rule of vowel harmony for such words:  the final syllable
> always *disagrees* with the initial syllable, and the medial
> syllables, if any, always *agree* with the initial syllable.
>
> In this way, all words are self-segregating: a non-monosyllabic
> word begins with a stressed syllable and ends on the first
> disagreeing syllable: any further unstressed syllables
> before the next stressed syllable are monosyllabic words.
Excellent!  That way, sentences can be spoken very rapidly
without the listener having any trouble telling where each word
begins and ends!
(And of course the CV syllables invite such rapid speech.)
 --Tommie

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