Re: tlhn'ks't, ngghlyam'ft, and other scary words

Danny Wier wrote:
>From: "Andreas Johansson" <and_yo@...>
>
>| I've been seeing the name "Tamazight" alot lately - what is it?
>
>Tamazight is a Berber language of Morocco and Algeria, and Berber is a
>branch of
>Afro-Asiatic. One of its features is the loss of short vowels in open
>syllables
>and loss of vowel length with insertion of /@/ in certain cases, and PAA
>ejective stops become voiced pharyngealized, like Arabic "emphatics".
>
>| While Tairezazh's clusters aren't exactly georgianesque, you do get words
>| like _zgzang_ "tetragon". The other day it occured to me that I can't
>recall
>| seeing an initial cluster which features the same consonant twice
>(excluding
>| as part of a affricate like in German "Szene"). Anyone's got any
>examples?
>| Is there any theoretical reasons to expect that such clusters shouldn't
>turn
>| up or be rare?
>
>Don't forget Russian /StS'/, which is often simplified to [S':]. Should
>there be
>a word for a consonant cluster which involves flanking a conjsonant with
>the
>same fricative on both sides? Tairezazhism?
I dunno - it's not that frequent in Tairezazh. In uninflected forms, my
dictionary as yet only seems to include _zgzang_ and _Mestsa_, a feminie
name. Then there are the dozens of nouns ending in _-st_, that get sg
accusatives in _-sts_, and some other inflected forms like _ranzdz_ "tunnel
(acc)", _nasks_ "daughter (acc)" and the slightly unlikely _sizdzuvaledh_
"least seductive". The word for "tall" is a bit nifty too; _dzhdad_.

                                                Andreas

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