Re: Sidestepping Spelling Reform

Quoting Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>:

> Quoting David Zitzelsberger <DavidZ@...>:
>
> > I don't know how accurate this is but
> >
> > http://www.zompist.com/kitlong.html#phono claims that "English goes as far
> > as (s) + (C) + (r, l, w, y) + (V) + V + (C) + (C) + (C): sprite, thinks."
> >
> > If this is acurracte and I figure
> >         S is about 6 (f, v, th/th, s, z, sh/zh). I'm not including both th
> > because they don't seem to change the meaning of a word for me. Same for
> sh
> > verses zh.
>
> That (s) - notice lowercase - is one; only /s/ can occur first in English
> syllable-initial clusters.
"... of three consonants", it should have said!

                                           Andreas

> And, of course, not all clusters suggested by the
> above scheme are allowed - we don't get /snr-/ or the like.
>
> Still, the number of legit English syllables is high - several thousand.
>
> Do anyone know what lang has the highest number, and what that number might
> be? I figure Georgian might be a strong contender!
>
> Same for smallest number of syllables - some Polynesian lang, perhaps?
>
>                                                        Andreas
>