Re: Lots of phonemes (was Re: Umlaut (was: More questions))

Quoting Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...>:

> Unless I have mis-counted, that's 304 consonants.  However, that project
> never went anywhere past this consonant inventory, but was ditched
> immediately after.  It was far too unwieldy, and if I had carried on,
> I would have wound up not using the majority of those 304 phonemes
> in any word.
Not using all the sounds one's endowed the phonology with can have interesting
results; Tairezazh owes its i:>ei and u:>ou changes to me looking thru the
lexicon (featuring a few dozen roots at the time), and realizing that no
single word contained a long high vowel, but that the diphthongs ei and ou
were quite common. The result seemed inevitable.

                                                         Andreas