Re: CONLANG Digest - 9 May 2000

Muke Tever scripsit:

> Even _not_ all or nothing!  Just _consistent_.  It's no use getting rid of one
> silent {gh} and leaving all the others in!
There is really no need to remove silent "gh" except where it is not
truly silent.  In general, "gh" has no effect, and can be left alone,
as in "straight".  However, "ough" has about 9 different pronunciations,
and should be altered except in the minority of cases where it has
the same sound as the (principal) sound of "ou".  "Though" is good
but "through" should be "thru" or perhaps "thrue".

> (Isn't that basic linguistics, that all similar sounds change together? ;)
Except when they undergo unconditioned phonemic splits.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
       I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin