----------
> Van: Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
> Aan: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG <CONLANG@...>
> Onderwerp: Request for help, Spanish
> Datum: zondag 10 oktober 1999 7:01
>=20
> I'm currently working on Lun=EA (<Lun=E9s < Luna + -=E9s), the official
> language of the Pan-Human Republic. It is descended from a
> Spanish-lexified creole, with substrate influence from English and
> Esperanto (a language spoken in a number of Lunar colonies), and
> probably other languages. Now, the questions I have are these:
>=20
Nice setting
> What is the distribution of the allophones [a] and [A] in Spanish? And
> do all dialects have those allophones?
>=20
I didn't know there was allophony. But I'm no native speaker.
> What are the pronunciations of {ll} and {y} in different dialects?=20
> Particularly in Mexican dialects.
>=20
As far as I know the Mexican way is the most straightforward one: {ll}
being IPA lambda and {y} being {y}. In the Andes {ll} has become [Z] and
the Indian languages have taking this over (_llacta_ 'village' is
pronounced as [Zacta] in Ecuador).
Pablo can confirm this for Plate=F1o too I think.
I read a complaint in a newspaper (El Pais?) of a native speaker of
Northern Spain that he didn't like that in his region {ll} and {y} are bo=
th
propounced the same way as [y]. So there is no difference between _pollo_
and _poyo_ anymore.
> One sound change involves the loss of intervocalic voiced stops. Now,
> in words like "ciudad", this would produce [sju'a] (I think, or is it
> [sju'A]?). What should I do with those kinds of words? Ordinarily,
> unstressed high vowels become glides when prevocalic, but *[sjwa] would
> be impossible. Would it be reasonable for that to become a rounded
> glide, that is [s;ha]? Or would it be reasonable for an epenthetic [w]
> to be added, creating [sju'wa]? Or should I just leave it at [sju'a]?=20
> Or, might the [j] be vocalized, creating [si'wa]?
>=20
I think I would become [siu'a] -> [si'wa] or something like that. As I he=
ar
it (from natives of Spain) the /i/ is more pronounced than the /u/.
Rob