R: Re: R: Re: /H/ (was: An Unknown Conlang)

R. Brown wrote:

 >> Very true - and I'm not convinced /H/ has _phonemic_ status in French
> >either.
> >>
> >
> >What is a 'phonemic status'?
>
> I mean whether [H] and [y] are both separate phonemes in French or whether
> the two sounds are both allophones of a single phoneme /y/.
Thank you for the explanation. I found it really useful.

> As to phonemes and allophones, in both English and Italian the sounds [s]
> and [z] occur but whereas in English both sounds have independent phonemic
> status, i.e. /s/ and /z/ (e.g. zoo /zu:/ ~ Sue /su:/; lace /leis/ ~ laze
> /leiz/ etc), in Italian they are allophones of a single phoneme, usually
> written /s/.   This is because whether written _s_ is pronounced [s] or
[z]
> depends upon their environment, thus:
> [s] if initial before a vowel, if before a voiceless consonant, or if it
is
> geminated (doubled), e.g. sabato, seta; scudo, sforzo, astio; tassa,
basso.
> [z] if before a voiced consonant and, generally(1), when single between
two
> vowels, e.g. sbadato, smalto; vaso, esame, uso.
>
> (1) I know there are exceptions, but they a largely predictable, e.g.  [s]
> is retained after a prefix (risultare), in the suffix -oso and its
> derivatives (curioso, curiosità) and in past participles of certain
> irregular verbs (raso).
This applies in Spanish, I think, not in Italian. We don't have exceptions
here, at least I think! it's always so difficult to analyze one's own
language!



Luca