Re: /nj/ vs. /J/ [was Re: sounds I can't find!!!]
| From: | J. 'Mach' Wust <j_mach_wust@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, August 16, 2004, 8:28 |
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On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 13:46:36 +1000, =?iso-8859-1?q?Tristan=20Mc=20Leay?=
<kesuari@...> wrote:
> --- Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> wrote:
>> Trebor asked:
>
>> > Is this contrast [[n_j] vs [J]] phonemic anywhere?
>> >
>> _Possibly_ in French, Spanish, Italian (at least
>> according to the written
>> forms):
>>
>> [n_j] vs. [J]
>> Spanish unión vs. uña '(finger)nail'
>> French union vs. oignon
>> Italian unione vs. ogni
>>
>> But I'd be willing to bet that in practice nobody
>> observes it.
>
>Well, I asked Christophe once, and he couldn't think
>of an example where it was phonemic,
If you insist that in order to prove a contrast to be phonemic, you really
need two existing words (not only two meaningless words that follow the
phontactics of the language), then you could take the Spanish words _soña_
vs. _Sonia_. Actually, the latter isn't really a word, but a Spanish proper
name. I'm pretty sure that they're not pronounced the same.
g_0ry@_^s:
j. 'mach' wust