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Re: Japanese Long Consonants

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Saturday, November 6, 2004, 18:31
Chris Bates wrote:
> > * long vowel > > * short vowel > > * short vowel + glottal stop > > This was the system I was proposing... a 3-way distinction like that. :) > But I have now incorporated long vowel + glottal stop (marked by a > circumflex) also... although I have to concentrate when I speak to not > cut the long vowel short. *hums* Anyway... all the glottal stops vanish > in both the daughter languages, giving rise to long consonants in one, > and various other phonological changes in the other.
What actually is the syllable structure of your language? (sorry if I've missed a previous discussion). Let's say: .VCV.. and ...V:Cv.. .VCCV... (? and ..V:CCV.. -- that might sort-of violate a sort-of universal, but IIRC Latin, Greek and Sanskrit allowed long V before 2 consonants, but universals are there to be violated :-) ) Now, if one of the C's is /?/, there's no intrinsic reason you couldn't have V?V and V:?V V?CV and V:?CV Possible sound changes: 1. Loss of /?/ after short V-- V?V > new single V combining features of both, e.g. a?i > e, u?i > y; (in my Gwr, any sequence of i/u > 1) Like V would presumably > long, e.g. a?a > a: Many possibilities, including diphthongs. V?CV > compensatory length of V1: V:CV OR of the C: VC:V 2. Loss of /?/ after long V:-- V:?V > distinct V in separate syllables, a:?i > a(:).i etc. (If your language doesn't allow vowels in hiatus, then introduce a glide of some sort.) V:?CV > V:CV or perhaps V:C:V ??? Another question/possibility: are the long V different in quality, or simply lengthened versions of the short V? Perhaps /a/ = [6], /a:/ = A, /e/ = [E], /e:/ = [e]???

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Chris Bates <chris.maths_student@...>