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Re: brz reloaded!

From:Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
Date:Wednesday, September 28, 2005, 11:05
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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Shreyas Sampat <ssampat@...>Ubykh suspicions (was brz reloaded!)