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Re: Phonology Help (Aramaic and Pashto)

From:Danny Wier <dawier@...>
Date:Wednesday, November 20, 2002, 0:50
For those who asked about Pashto phonology:

Vowels
(i:)    (u:)
i    u
e @ o
a   a:

Consonants
p b m w
f
t d ts dz n l
s z r
t^ d^ (s^ z^) n^ r^ (retroflexes)
tS dZ S Z j
k g x G
(q)
(?) h

A picture of the script/alphabet is at
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/pashto.htm; this is the Afghani version. In
Pakistan, retroflex letters are marked with a small tah, as in Urdu.

On the retroflexes:
/t^/ and /d^/ in loanwords only
/s^/ and /z^/ merge with /x/ and /g/ in Pakistan
/r^/ is more accurately a retroflex lateral flap
/n^/ is the nasalized form of /r^/

Also, as was mentioned before, more than one consonant can be found
initially. This is in sharp contrast to Farsi and Kurdish, where only one
consonant may appear initially (the result of Arabic influence).

Replies

Danny Wier <dawier@...>
Eamon Graham <robertg@...>