Re: Phonemic volume

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> En réponse à Ian Maxwell <umlaut@...>:
>
>
>>Hey, does anyone know of any languages that actually have phonemic
>>volume distinctions?
>
>
> Any language with phonemic stress accent not accompanied with vowel
> reduction :)))) .
Heh. Technically true, while not at all what I was talking about.

In an attempt to increase the number of possible words in my
monosyllabic-word isolating language, I thought I'd include a
piano-vs-forte phonemic distinction, so that, say, /p. zén/ "day" would
be a distinct word from /f. zén/ "rope". (This would be the "proper"
pronunciation--it's not unlikely that some dialects would pronounce the
two words identically, or perhaps use breathy voicing instead of piano
or something.)

I wouldn't be surprised to find that no natlang has volume this
intrinsically a part of its phonology, as it isn't conducive to, say,
shouting, or whispering.

- Ian Maxwell
--
C'est la vie, c'est la guerre, c'est la pomme de terre.

CONLANGER CODE: CU v1.1 !lm+ cN:R:N:H a+ y n19:1 !B* A+ E--- L+ N1<2 Im
k-- ia@:@ p@ s@ m- o P-- S--- Ingyrri