Georgian consonant clusters and syllables
From: | Tim May <butsuri@...> |
Date: | Sunday, January 4, 2004, 15:03 |
Tristan McLeay wrote at 2004-01-03 22:58:43 (-0500)
> On Sat, 3 Jan 2004, John Cowan wrote:
>
> > R J scripsit:
> >
> > > 2. Could anyone give me some sxamples of insane consonant clusters?
> >
> > My favorite case is the two-syllable Georgian surname Mgrvgrvladje.
> > The maximum number of consonants at the start of an Georgian initial
> > syllable is eight, as in this example.
>
> Anyone know of any recordings of something like this? I have a hard time
> not saying [m=grv=grv=ladje] (and yes, I have the = in the right place).
>
I've heard a recording of someone saying vprtskvni, and it sounds to
me as if - phonetically - the r is syllabic and there are epenthetic
schwas after the [k] and both [v]s. Or maybe there's a schwa before
the r as well, I don't know. I can't find this online any more, but I
can mail you the .wav file if you like.
I've read that the formidable clusters in Salishan languages (like the
Nuxalk example above) _don't_ contain epenthetics, and that these
languages sound much more consonantal than Georgian. I can't find any
recordings of these, though.
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