Re: The beautifulest phonology

Raymond Brown wrote:


>Oh well, as others are joining  in........
That's about my attitude toward such a subjective topic.......Nevertheless,
ladies and gentlemen--

Front rounded vowels are Anathema.
High central (barred-i) is Good.
Not too many fricatives, please.

I suppose it's best summed up in the Buginese (natlang) system:
p t tS k
b d dZ g
m n ñ N
w l r
s
(h and j also, but not natively; actually /b d/ are non-native in a lot of
cases, vs. /w/ and /r/)

Only permitted finals: /N/ and [?] alternating with -k-, -r-, -s-.

The neatest part is the historical changes of Nasal plus vl. Stop > geminate
vl. stop and Nasal plus vd. stop > nasal plus vl. stop; but *nd > /nr/
Vowels  i e 1(or @ depending on analysis) a u o, with automatic gemination
after /1~@/

Some verbal conjugation, and just enough morphophonemics to keep things
interesting.

A curious thing:  Dirk E. included /tT/ in his most beautiful phonology---
that sound has been present, one way or another, in all my linguistic
speculations since teen years.  Proto-Kash had a *t_h, which developed to
**tT early on, and results in /s/ in modern Kash.