Re: Sirmave part I: phonology

Mangiat wrote:

>Vowels:
>
>There are 15 vowel sounds (6 simple vowels + 5 allophones and 5 nasal
>vowels); native linguists still don't agree whether nasal vowels are
>independent phonemes or allophones of normal vowels appearing before the
>phoneme [n] + another consonant. (Could *you* help me to grasp this
>problem?)
>
>               simple                nasal
>high    i            u           e~       u~
>mid      e Y    o               E~    o~
>low           a                         a~
Any reason Y is not nasalized?

This could be part of the key for understanding whether nasalization is
phonemic or allophonic. If nasalization comes from VnC, then we need a
reason why Y cannot occur in this context. If nasalization is phonemic,
then the gap in the inventory is less remarkable. If I had to select one
vowel in the system that could not be nasalized, it would have been Y.

>Stress
>
>Stress generally falls on the penultimate syllable. A syncope phenomenon
>levelled a lot the irregularities present in the older system ('CV1CV2CV3
>often became 'CV1CCV3).
Does that mean the stressed syllable was syncopated? That would be unusual.

Marcus





===============================
Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
===============================