C (was: Acadon (was: Lingwa de Planeta))

Henrik Theiling wrote:
> Hi!
>
> R A Brown writes:
>
>> ... Quite so. It would appear that in LFN |c| is the preferred
>> spelling, but you can use |k| if you really want to!
>>
>> As LFN is quite clearly a Romance conlang, I would expect /k/ to be
>>  spelled |c| in all environments except before /e/ and /i/. Then
>> one might employ either the |ch| of Italian & Romanian, or the |qu|
>> of French, Catalan, Spanish & Portuguese (or maybe even |k|!) ...
>
>
> In my Terkunan, although meant to be a typical romlang, I chose to
> write /k/ as |k|, because the language has no palatalisation at all
> and in this context, it was easier for me to read Terkunan aloud,
> since reading |ce| as /ke/ would feel strange.
Yet 'Celt', 'Celtic' etc. are invariably pronounced 'kelt', 'keltic'
etc., at least when referring to language or supposed ethnicity. (The
Glaswegian soccer team, however, is pronounced 'seltic'   :)

You'd have to get used to both |ce| = /ke/ and |ci| = /ki/ if you were
to learn Welsh or either Irish or Scots Gaelic   :)

> And writing it |che| or |que| would also be kind of artificial when
> there is no regular sound change involved in /k/+/e/.
Agreed.

> In fact, it is common to write Sardinian with |k| (e.g. in two of my
> dictionaries) for the same reason, although the currently preferred
> spelling for /k/ seems to be |c| (and |ch|) before /e/ and /i/, e.g.
> 'celu' or 'chelu' /kelu/ for < CAELUM 'sky, heaven'.  Cf.:
> www.ditzionariu.org.
In fact since Sardinian (like Terkunan) did not share in the
palatalization which afflicted Vulgar Lain elsewhere, it would be more
logical for Sardinian to retain the old Latin spelling with |c| = /k/ in
all environments. Using |ch| in Sardinian 'chelu' is clearly a
concession to Italians so that they do not mispronounce 'celu.'

> But still, I basically agree: |k| makes it look less typical Romance.
>
It does.

>> In Acadon OTOH |k| has the value /kj/, which IMO is a little odd.
>
> Indeed.
Yes. IMHO if an auxlang with anything like global intentions (as opposed
to just Amero-European intentions) wants to be taken seriously it has to
have /k/ spelled as |k|. Indeed, the use of |c| varies so very greatly
in natlangs that it is surely best avoided altogether in a language
intended as a possible international auxlang.

Thinks: how many different values are or have been given to |c| in
natlangs? I can think of /g/, /k/, /tS/, /ts/, /s/, /dZ/, /c/ and /|/
(dental click).
(I'm not including |ch| which would add a whole lot more  :)

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB]

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