Re: "Usefull languages"

Hey y'all. I'm back on the list and posting from my new work email
address, hence the misspelling of my first name as `Kieth' rather
than `Keith'. My other email address, kmgaughan@eircom.net, is
still valid.

From: Stephen Mulraney [mailto:ataltanie@OCEANFREE.NET]

<snipping explaination of why Irish orthography actually rocks>

> > And Old Irish is worse, where one letter
> > can represent three sounds: c = /c/, /g/, /X/. for example,
> nemed 'sacred
> > grove' from Gaulish nemeton, is pronounced /neveD/.
>
> Interesting... must study OI some day. What you say makes it look
> systematic rather than just bad ;). Maybe the palatalised/velarised
> distinction, e.g. of /c'/ vs. /c/, arose as allophones conditioned by
> surrounding vowels, where the allophones became phonemes as a
> result of
> a change in the vowel system removing the conditioning environment.
I think there is a good reason for the the distinction in the old system.
I don't have a copy of Thurneysen here in the office, but I'm sure somebody
who does will mention it. If not, I'll look it up tonight and post something
tomorrow.

Get a copy of Thurneysen's Old Irish Grammar. I snapped a copy up in the
Waterstones in UCC for next to nothing. I'm sure you could get it somewhere.
It's rather hard going and a bit heavy, but a great grammar reference.

> (I know what I'm trying to say but it's sufficently vague to make
> difficult to verbalise... I have a feeling that the
> preceeding paragraph
> just means "Perhaps the p/v distinction arose by, like ...
> some process,
> ye know?" ;) )
>
> Time to go to bed, methinks (yeah, it's 2am, but I'm not going to send
> until the morning, hence the date on the mail)
Cripes! I'm just after getting it and it's 3:30 (pm) here. I'm in Ireland
and I presumed you were too, Ocean Free email address and everything. Late
mail?

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