Re: Phonemic vocalic length in PU/PFU (was Re: Questions about Hungarian)

TR> e.g. a'cs /a:tS/ 'carpenter' < */aatSi_x/ < */aGatSi/ < Turkic aghach1

RH> What does the '_x' mean?

"Mid-centralized" - shift the articulation of the vowel toward the
middle of the mouth - that is, toward schwa - along both axes from where you
would otherwise place it, but not far enough to yield a vowel with its
own symbol.  So [i_x] is somewhere between [i] and [I].  The IPA equivalent
is a (somewhat vertically squashed) "x" over the top of the vowel.

Be careful not to confuse this _x (lowercase) with _X (capital), which
is the CXS equivalent of the IPA breve, and means that the syllable
whose core has the _X attached is to be pronounced eXtra short.
In fact, I think that because of the potential confusion it would be
better to use ( for the breve, since we already use ) for the tie.

-Mark