Re: More Ere:tas: The fable of the North Wind and the Sun

At 18:44 30/10/01 +0100, you wrote:
>Keith Gaughan wrote:
>
> > a /9/  = 'a' in sad
>
>'A' in sad would be /{/ in X-SAMPA, which I find an exceptionally ugly
>character.  Some people (including me) swap that symbol with /&/, which
>X-SAMPA uses for the much less common rounded /a/ sound.
>
>So your a would be either /{/ or /&/.
I was thinking that, and I just might use that, but when I was
pronouncing it myself, it seemed less open than that. I'll probably go
with the CON-SAMPA /&/.

> > o /u:/ = 'o' in do
> > ö /o:/ = 'o' in cold
>
>I would swap those two.  /& @ o/ are somewhat laxer vowels which /e: i:
>u:/ are tenser ones.
Good point.

>As for the missing /a/ sound:  I agree with Christophe that its lack is
>indeed very puzzling.  It seems to be the most basic sound a human can
>produce (besides /@/), the first one a child can articulate (think
>"mama") and the most natural one to shout, seeing as it's used in
>involunatry utterings such as screams of pain or shock.
>
>Then again, the world's languages realize their /a/s very differingly.
>English has [A], Italian [a], and Swiss German both [A] and a very open
>[a], while Arabic /a/ sounds nearly like [&] afaik.
>
>So in Keith's lang, [&] would be the realization of the obligate /a/ phoneme.
Pretty much. I can't seem to get any closer.

Last night, I fiddled with an alternative orthography for the language. It's
main aim was to make the language look less like Finnish. Here's what the
language looks like using it:

Salossa Kattolt uné Vassu kallendéu iris cezuin de. Colanus rindé béssoans
uné ilo anvalarin de. Ilo andana uné vellin dida: ésuské uné kallendé ardansu
uné colanus irel rindéan iris valsan dianeda. Salossatu estér déloan di, lua
kallendéa ardansu uné déloan iris el réanséa ardansu uné rindé ahlett!
Salossatu andana uné kassilan dida. Vassutu vérar andan di: béssé iris vallin
di'l colanus ahlar rindéan ahlett valsan di. "Vassu la, ésutu uné kallendé
ardansu uné déma!", Salossatu cionnan di.

And the original:

Salössa Kattölt onä Vasso kallendäo ërës cezoën de. Cölanos rëndä bässöans
onä ëlö anvalarën de. Ëlö andana onä vellën dëda: äsoskä onä kallendä ardanso
onä cölanos ërel rëndäan ërës valsan dëaneda. Salössato estär dälöan dë, loa
kallendäa ardanso onä dälöan ërës el räansäa ardanso onä rëndä ahlett!
Salössato andana onä kassëlan dëda. Vassoto värar andan dë: bässä ërës vallën
dë'l cölanos ahlar rëndäan ahlett valsan dë. "Vasso la, äsoto onä kallendä
ardanso onä däma!", Salössato cëönnan dë.

K.

--
Keith Gaughan <kmgaughan@...>
http://homepage.eircom.net/~kmgaughan/
I can decide what I give / But it's not up to me / What I get given -=Bjork=-

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