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

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 /&/.


> 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.

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.


-- Christian Thalmann

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