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Re: The beautifulest phonology

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Wednesday, March 20, 2002, 19:20
En réponse à J Y S Czhang <czhang23@...>:

> Hopefully I have the X-SAMPA all right... (Thanx Christophe :) >
You're welcome!
> _CONSONANTS_: > > p b t d t' d' k g > m n N > r > f v s z S Z s' z' h > > j > l l' >
With retroflexes? Well, I don't find them particularly beautiful, but they annoy me either :)) . BTW, retroflexes in X-SAMPA are marked by the *back apostrophe* ` (like rhotic vowels).
> > aspirated: > t'_h d'_h v_h >
Retroflex aspirates? Plus a voiced aspirated fricative? Now you're evil! :))) Though I do like voiced aspirates :)) .
> _VOWELS_: > > Malay 6-vowel system (think: Spanish vowel system with _schwa_ > added!). > My personal favourite (IMHO makes for a highly marked contrast to the > richness of the consonants listed above). > > i u > e o > @ > a >
Funny enough, that's the system of Astou when it became a dead language which was mostly written and barely ever vocalised :)) . This contrasts with its inventory around the 9th century BC (12 vowels and 11 diphtongues) and even around the 4th century BC (where it had simplified to a system of 14 vowels with no real diphtongues) :)) .
> <<BTW what is the official Italian (i.e., Tuscan) vowel system > _really_ > like??? Is it a 5, 6 or what vowel system? I keep hearing "conflicting > reportage." > ALSO where on the web can I find other languages' phonologies?>> >
IIRC Italian has 7 vowels: the five vowels like in Spanish, plus /E/ and /O/ as phonemes rather than allophones of /e/ and /o/. Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.