Re: Brr (was: Re: A few questions about linguistics concerning my new project)

Yeah, Arabic was the first thing I thought of, too.  Classical Arabic
had, IIRC, a 3-quality x 2-quantity system: a, a:, i, i:, u, u:.  MSA
still has that structure but I think the quantitative distinctions
have been replaced by qualitative ones.  Also, there seems to be a
mapping at work in some borrowings that turns short i and u into e and
o, respectively.

On 7/31/07, Douglas Koller <laokou@...> wrote:
> From: Michael Poxon <mike@...>
>
> > 3. Rather than expand the vowel system, it might be fun to restrict it.
> Just
> > have (say) a i u, as I believe some Inuit langs do. That may even give
> your
> > language a certain cold-climate feel, fine if that's what you're after but
> > not so fine if you're not!
>
> Doesn't Arabic, at least in theory, have an a-i-u system? While I've heard
> it can get pretty nippy on those desert nights and you might want to bring a
> cardigan to a mountain top, I don't think of Arabic having a cold-climate
> feel :-)
>
> Kou
>

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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