Re: Nimrina phonology

Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:
> Herman Miller skrev:
>> In that case, I could have [r`] in place of [4] as the intervocalic
>> allophone of /l/. Or it could vary depending on the vowels. I seem to
>> be having a little difficulty pronouncing "tilin" (small) as
>> [t_jir`in]. But pronouncing "hlýlu" (leaf) as [K1:r`u] or "zelen"
>> (feather) as [zEr`En] seems easier.
>
> Hm, I can't feel any difference, but then I've been able
> to imitate Swedish all-[r`] dialects since I was a kid.
> BTW there are Dalecarlian dialects that have [d`] for
> word-initial /l/, whereas [d`] would elswhere occur for
> *ld or in [n`d`] < *rnd, or for *rD where it does not
> become [r`] in Swedish dialects.
I suppose the difficulty comes from the contortions required to rapidly
change from [t_j] to [r`] while keeping the [i] distinct from [1].
Lengthening the [i] seems to make it easier. But maybe it's one of those
things that improves with practice.

> I see, but the males could still be more hairy than the
> females, as even human males tend to be hairier than
> human females, as long as they have execcively 'too
> much' facial hair -- which could anyway be shaved off
> in order to appear more human.  In fact the tail would
> be more of a problem to a male, since 19th century human
> males would wear trousers, while women would wear skirts
> (even several of them).  Even possible pointed and hairy
> ears would be less of a problem, since a male could wear
> a (knitted) cap among humans, although it would be more
> normal for women of the time to wear a headcloth at all
> times.  I suppose you read the story about the boy who
> politely pointed out that the _skogsfru_'s 'underskirt'
> showed?
Yes, I saw that on the Wikipedia page. At least that confirms that the
females can pass as human if suitably dressed. I figure the males would
need to wear long overcoats to hide their tails. But it would certainly
be easier for the females.

>> But this brings up another possibility; they may have had populations
>> in both continents from way back in the Atlantean days (if I go with
>> the idea that they're related to the Atlanteans).
>
> In which case they would probably have several languages too.
> There isn't even any guarantee that Atlantis had only one language!
Well, I may have misinterpreted Jörg's post in the other thread. I
thought he was saying the pre-Germanic population (which the huldror /
huldre(r) are theorized to be memories of) may also have been behind the
legends of Atlantis. But it's possible he meant that his "Elves" may
have been the original Atlanteans.