Re: Vowels?

En réponse à Steve Kramer <scooter@...>:

>
> Anyway, she would like to use "b" and other consonants as vowels.  My
> wife and I explained that she can't do that, technically, unless she
> changes the sound of the letter...so she asked, "Okay, what *is* a
> vowel, anyway?"
>
> Can anyone provide the textbook definition?
>
Well, you ask a difficult thing, for the simple reason that such a definition
doesn't exist. In fact, there is a continuum between pulmonic sounds, from the
most closed or most consonant-like (the stops) to the most open or vowel-like
(the low vowels). In between, there is a blurred frontier of sounds that can be
used both as vowels or consonants (the so-called semi-vowels or semi-
consonants). The IPA separates for instance the high vowel [i] from the
approximant [j], but many languages consider them the same phoneme, and/or
switch from one to the other as well synchronically (in the same state of
language) as diachronically (through time).

Since we cannot define vowels as such, we can at least define them by their
properties. Well, even then it's a problem. The main property of vowels is to
be the peak of the syllable, carrying the intensity or tonal features (accent
or pitch or tone), and as such enough to form a syllable by itself (what
consonants cannot do. They need a helping vowel, at least a schwa, to be
pronounced). But some languages use what we would call consonants for this role
(what is called: syllabic consonants). Of course, the consonants most often
used like that are the ones near the blurred frontier, like the approximants
(whose syllabic counterparts are in fact identical to high vowels, e.g. a
syllabic [w] is nothing else than [u]), the liquids, the nasals, the taps and
trills (in fact, even English has syllabic consonants, at least most American
dialects do. For instance, the ending -le in 'settle' is best described as a
syllabic [l=] - [=] is the sign of syllabicity - and the ending -er in 'meter'
as a syllabic [r\`=]). Many languages have syllabic [m=] or [n=], or syllabic
[4=] (the apical flap, like in Spanish "querer", or the t in American
pronounced "writer"). But syllabic consonants are not restricted to the most
open ones. Some languages have fricatives like [s] used as vowels, and some
even (or so I've read) can even use stops as syllable peaks (so your daughter's
idea of using b as a vowel is not that stupid. It IS done in a few languages.
It's just a hell to pronounce for us :)) ).
Another property of vowels is to be always voiced (that's to say pronounced
with vibrating vocal chords). But quite a few American Indian languages oppose
normal vowels to unvoiced (or so-called "whispered") ones, so this property
doesn't hold :) .

So sorry, no textbook definition of a vowel as opposed to a consonant. The role
of syllabic peak is not restricted to what common sense calls "vowels" (nor the
other way round: some languages make use of consonantic vowels, i.e. vowels
which cannot serve as a syllabic peak, and need the help of another vowel to be
pronounced). So basically your daughter can do whatever she wants. If she wants
her language to sound like Georgian, then let her go with syllabic
consonnants :))) . She will probably find them quite difficult to pronounce
though. But who knows, maybe she's good at it.

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.

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