Re: Natlang Help: Do you know of a language that...

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Richard Wordingham
<richard.wordingham@N...> wrote:
> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Roger Mills <romilly@E...> wrote:
> > David Peterson wrote:
> >
> >   DP I have an idea for a possible paper topic for school, but I
> need to look at languages other than English.  What I'm looking for
> are languages that:
> >
> >   (1) Allow coda voiced velar consonants (e.g., [g] and [N]), and
> >   (2) Make a distinction between tense and lax non-low vowels
> (so, /e/ vs. /E/, /i/ vs. /I/, /u/ vs. /U/, /o/ vs. /O/).
> >
> >   Do you know of any natlangs that do this?
>
> If you're interested in length (still, I feel, a significant
feature
> in British English), Siamese offers examples with final /N/
> (velar).  Final -i:N is very rare (I can't think of any examples)
> and -u:N is disproportionately rare.  (There is su:N_14 'tall',
> which comes from Proto-Tai.  I'm not sure how regular the vowel
> correspondences are, though).  Li gives examples of Siamese -u:- in
> closed syllables corresponding to short vowels in more distantly
> related Tai languages, but the examples that should have -u:k or -
> u:N have -uN.
There's a similar pattern in Proto-Monic rimes, as summarised at
http://www.anu.edu.au/~u9907217/languages/AAlecture3.html .  The
lack of -u:k and -u:N is quite striking.  As the core territory of
Proto-Monic is now the core territory of Siamese, these
characteristics may not be independent.

Richard.