Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

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.

Replies

Tristan McLeay <zsau@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>