Re: Missing parts
| From: | Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, June 29, 2002, 8:05 |
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On 28 Jun 02, at 11:07, Christopher B Wright wrote:
> ObConlang: perhaps someone would make a language with no voiced
> sounds at all
Would that mean a language without vowels?
And ISTR reading that many Polynesian languages have few voiced
consonants; not sure whether there are any with none. For example,
Niuean has only /m/, /n/, /N/ (spelled |g| by Samoan tradition; Tongan
orthography has |ng| instead), and /v/.
So three voiced nasals (and no unvoiced ones); only unvoiced stops; and
a voiced/unvoiced distinction in the fricative pair /v/ - /f/ (though
the /v/ is historically from /w/ IIRC, which explains this pairing,
since all other consonants are not paired).
Cheers,
Philip
--
Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>
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