Re: IPA/SAMP question

> User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i
> X-No-Archive: Yes
> Date:         Thu, 15 Nov 2001 12:34:05 +0100
> From: taliesin the storyteller <taliesin@...>
>
> * Lars Henrik Mathiesen said on 2001-11-14 17:02:28 +0100
> > It's not uncommon for a natlang to have an unconditioned four way
> > height contrast in the front vowels, but then it's usually /i e E
> > a/. I don't think I've heard about a five way phonemic contrast,
> > though there are languages where a greater number of vowels heights
> > occur in different contexts (short vs. long, for instance).
>
> Does dialects count? Was a guy in my phonetics-class last semester that
> had /i e E { a A/ as phonemes :) (Plus the schwa and sundry rounded ones
> of course.)
Of course dialects count. If length isn't involved in that, it's a
five way height contrast.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)