Re: NATLANGS: Difthongization across Europa

Roger:
<<
It's surprising that, for you, only nasals are involved. And maybe
only /n/??
 >>

No, all nasals (except that before [N], it's not a diphthong, just
plain old monophthongal [e] [no typo there; the vowel isn't
anywhere close to [&]]).

Roger:
<<
  If you're any example, this is a case of East >> West. How about
your contemporaries, or teen-agers?
 >>

No, I don't think so.  This, for example...

<<
bed and bad, sure and shore, bag and beg, can and Ken etc.
 >>

...just sounds crazy.  :)  It's just before nasals.  I think it could
have come about spontaneously.  _C[+nasal] is a hotbed for
sound change.

Roger:
<<
How about Tom, CD-Rom? (not too many exs. of /CAm/) YAEPT ALERT!! How
about "balm"? I have [A:] in all these, and pronounce the /l/ in balm.
 >>

Yep.  All these rhyme here:

Tom
bomb
balm
palm
psalm
calm
CD-rom
Cham
qualm
mom
'Nam
prom
com

etc.

I wouldn't know how to pronounce the "l" in "balm".

Roger:
<<
Making it 2 syllables is just for emphasis. Same with [Si:.It].
 >>

Of course, if it's a true diphthong, it's still monosyllabic,
isn't it?  :)  There might be something to this, though:

Roger:
<<
That's just the plain old Southern drawl, probably in most AAVE too.
 >>

Though Snoop was born in Long Beach like me, his speech may
have been influenced by those who came from the South, and
his speech, in turn, influenced others', etc.

-David
*******************************************************************
"A male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a."
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."

-Jim Morrison

http://dedalvs.free.fr/