Re: ¿Naro cel ei nau cepoa sia? ['naru,gil enQ,gibua'Za]

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Nokta Kanto <red5_2@H...> wrote:
 > I like the sound of oro mpaa.

Thank you.


 > A question about the phonology: do doubled consonants (tt) represent
a pair
 > of phonemes, or are they digraphs for a different phoneme? And does the
 > language distinguish short /t/ from long /tt/?

Yes, the letter |t| represents the phoneme /t/, and |tt| is simply
that phoneme twice /tt/.  In a medial position, the difference is
obvious: |ata| [a.da] vs. |atta| [at.ta].  In the initial position,
they both sound the same: |ta| [ta], |tta| [ta], but phrasal
medialisation can make the difference audible again: |o ta| [u.da],
|o tta| [ut.ta].  In final position, |tt| is not allowed.

I guess it would also be valid from a linguistic point of view
to define |t| and |tt| as a phoneme each, but that's not the
way the Tao Ttouans see it.  ;-)



-- Christian Thalmann

Reply