Re: Georgian consonant clusters and syllables

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 21:54:21 +0100, Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
wrote:

> Quoting Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>:
>
>> En réponse à Andreas Johansson :
>>
>>
>> >I can pronounce that without any epenthetics, but I cannot do an "r"
>> between
>> >two consonants of higher sonority without it sounding like a syllable
>> peak.
>>
>> Strange. I have no problem with that.
>
> I can't seem to do it with any "liquid" consonant.
Quasi-related to a different thread: I can only make liquids asyllablic if
I consciously make them short. It seems length more than sonority defines
for me what is a peak and what isn't. Stops, being of inherently "very
short" length (barring implosives, geminates, and other odd fish) most
naturally make syllable boundaries. For other sounds, I have to make more
and more conscious efforts to keep a sounds short as they increase in
sonority in order to keep my mind from automatically hearing them as
syllablic. Indeed, one of the key distinctions to my ear between /j/ and
/i/ is one of length, and also (I think) stressedness. Maybe
subphonemically, I have about four length grades, and at least three stress
grades. It's a timing thing.

I really wish I had the book-learnin' to back up what I'm trying to say.





Paul

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