Re: A hypothetical Sci-Fi conlang scenario

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:02:53 -0400, Ben Poplawski
<thebassplayer@...> wrote:
> <<Where did the [r\] go?>>
>
> Well, it has been my understanding that [r\] has degraded to [@`], at
> least in  American English, and I would think that a speaker of Latin
> would here it as [a]--or [&] or [6] or whatever. (That's how [@`] in
> English transfers to Japanese, so there's the natlang example.)
[@`] yes, but not before a vowel, where at least you'd expect [@`re].
And Japanese generally does borrow this type with r-initial kana, e.g.,
"akuserereetaa" (accelerator).

In any case, there's no reason to think the whole unstressed [@`] complex
mightn't be heard as /r/, thus <excelretare> or further <exceldretare> (if
it isn't folk-etymologized somehow to merge with <excellere>).

> <<But it would be a verb, so, exeleretare?>>
>
> Or exelaetare/excelaetare, considering the above paragraph.
Those last would at least have to be something like "excelaëtare" (with
trema) or "excelahetare", certainly?

	*Muke!
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