Re: Illegal vowel combinations

Raymond Brown wrote:

> >> A number of Australian languages have just /a i u/: Dyirbal and Yidiny come
> >> to mind. Of my own languages, there's Chispa (with /a e i/) and Zirien
> >> (with /a e i u/, but also having phonemic tone and length).
> >
> >Abkhaz, a Caucasian language, has two phonemic vowels:  /a/ and /@/.
> >(There are other nonphonemic variants.)  There is a rumored to be a language
> >in Papua New Guinea that has no phonemic vowels,
>
> ...and according to some theorists ProtoIndoEuropean also had no phonemic
> vowels.
That's true, but IIRC these people tend to be rather on the fringe of
analysis, whereas the status quo (with many surrounding disputant
theories) for Abkhaz is that it has two phonemic vowels.

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Thomas Wier | AIM: trwier

"Aspidi men Saiôn tis agalletai, hên para thamnôi
  entos amômêton kallipon ouk ethelôn;
autos d' exephugon thanatou telos: aspis ekeinê
  erretô; exautês ktêsomai ou kakiô" - Arkhilokhos