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Re: THEORY: Semivowels

From:dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Wednesday, September 8, 1999, 18:43
On Wed, 8 Sep 1999, Gustavo Eulalio wrote:

> What really are the semivowels? I mean, are [j] and [w], > respectively, just short [i] and [u], or are they really different > sounds?
Semivowels (glides) are vowels which function as consonants. Vowels are syllabic peaks, glides are syllabic margins. On Wed, 8 Sep 1999, Tom Wier wrote:
> > Semivowels are what phoneticians call "glides": they obstruct the > airflow very slightly in the process of "gliding" from one vowel's > place of articulation to the next, and as such, are classfied as > consonants (since the fundamental difference between consonants > and vowels is that consonants, to varying degrees, obstruct the > air flow, and vowels don't; it's just a matter of terminology).
Glides don't obstruct airflow any more than the corresponding vowels; they just have consonantal rather than vocalic function.
> Can semivowels be nasalized?
Of course. Shoshoni has both nasalized [w] and nasalized [y]. The former is an allophone of /m/, and the latter is an allophone of /n/. Dirk -- Dirk Elzinga dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu "All grammars leak." http://www.u.arizona.edu/~elzinga/ -Edward Sapir