Re: brz reloaded!
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, September 28, 2005, 11:05 |
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On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:42:37 -0400, R A Brown <ray@...>
wrote:
>>> Also, you seem to be assuming a "no vowel phoneme" analysis of the
>>> language (it certainly has 4 _phonetic_ vowels). Personally, I think
>>> the
>>> 4 vowels have phonemic status - they are just not written (a feature
>>> not
>>> unknown in Semitic writing).
>> Again, depends on the definition and analysis.
>
> It does, but "no vowel" phonologies always seem rather suspect to me.
Indeed.
In a similar vein, I always get a bit askance when I hear Ubykh described
as having two "underlying" vowels, conditioned by the surrounding
consonants. I'm no scholar in that field, but I'll need to see a very
convincing argument that there aren't rather more vowels, conditioning the
surrounding consonants (instead of the inverse), before I can learn to let
that claim slide without a raised eyebrow.
Paul
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