Re: Beek

Isidora Zamora sikyal:

> In it, the word <karm>, 'shield" is pronounced in two syllables.  (The word
> should properly be written with an accent over the <a> to indicate stress
> on the first syllable.)  As a matter of fact, the /m/ is syllabic here
> because liquid plus nasal clusters in the syllable coda are illegal, to the
> illegal cluster is broken up by making the m syllabic.
>
> Other words from the same language with syllabic consonants: <tovl>, 'to
> instruct' and <tovlm>, 'instruction' (both of which should have accents
> over the <l> to indicate that it is stressed  (It is the /l/ that
This is really quite interesting from a linguistic perspective, because
one generally expects liquids to be preferentially syllabic, rather than
nasals. I, for one, find [tov.lm=] very difficult to pronounce, as it
always wants to come out [to.vl=m]. Likewise, I want [ka.rm=] to be
[ka.r=m]. This is linguistically expected, since liquids are usually more
sonorous than nasals.

Such inversions aren't unheard of, though. PIE contains stems like *wlkw-,
theoretically pronounced [wl=k_w], rather than the expected [ulk_w].

Unlike Teoh, I find it pleasant and natural to have /m/ alternate between
syllabic and non-syllabic forms.

--
Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/
http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/blog

Jesus asked them, "Who do you say that I am?"

And they answered, "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground
of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our
interpersonal relationship."

And Jesus said, "What?"

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