Re: New Conlang

> >Is there an official way in any phonetic alphabet to denote the length of
>a
> >trill? How does one mark whether /r:/ is /444/ or /4444/ or /4444444/ ...
>?
>
>I'm guessing by /444/ you mean a trill with three contacts?
Yes.


>Taps/flaps are ballistic movements and by definition can only have one
>contact. Trills, on the other hand, are caused by the Bernouilli effect, so
>strictly speaking a trill is not the same thing as multiple taps or a
>"prolonged" or geminate tap.
"Ballistic" movements?

And you really mean it would be possible to differentiate not just
taps/percussives vs. flaps, but also single-contact trills?? I'm unable to
produce this last distinction.
Furthermore, what's the common category for all these sounds?


>As far as I'm aware, most languages aren't precise in the number of
>contacts that constitute a trill (I know Finnish is supposed to have simple
>& geminate trills, but I don't know if any studies have measured how
>speakers distinguish the two).
Well, being Finnish myself: /r/ has 1 to 3 contacts, and /r:/ 3 or more.
Whether a 3-contact trill will be considered "short" or "long" is a function
of duration and dialect... I'm not sure which interpretation is more common.
I remember reading of a study (...sorry, I know no ID details) where it was
found that the most typical lengths are 2 and 4.


>The IPA doesn't make any provision for the exact number of contacts in a
>trill (so a trill could have only a single contact in rapid speech), so the
>distinction would best be made between [r] and [r:] and [r::] if necessary,
>indicating progressively longer trills.
>
>Bfowol
Here's a rather weird idea: how about denoting numeral n by a trill with n
contacts? Another trill phoneme could be used for reciprocals, and maybe
even a third for square roots ... :D

John Vertical

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