Digest

<<[O] in closed syllables, [o] in open.  At least in some dialects, I
don't know if it's true in *all* dialects.>>

       This is not true for the Mexican Spanish I'm familiar with: "pelota" 
[pe.'lo.tA]; "tengo" [teN.go]; "otra vez" ['o.t4A Bes].  However, it may go 
to [O] in front of [r].  I'm going to try not to reply too much while I'm at 
my girlfriend's because I know it's not HTML friendly.  Maybe I can fix it... 
 Shoot!  I can't because I'm on a guest account...  What a pain.  Sorry, 
everyone.  I'll just keep this e-mail upon and make all other responses to 
other e-mails in this one.

<<What about your conlangs? :-) I haven't really thought about my conlang
yet, but I *might* go for the whimsical derivative of _ki'gi_ ("fun" of
the noisy variety, as y'all have seen in the relay):
        gigigi...>>

The only language that's gotten to the stage of laughter yet is my first 
language, Megdevi.  There's a word for "to laugh", which I forget, and all 
the various kinds of laughter, and then there's two triconsonantal roots 
devoted entirely to the sound of laughter.  One is h-h-h (rather 
predictably), which is a natural laughter, but then there's also H-H-H 
(voiceless, pharyngeal fricatives) which is the root for hard, fall down, 
nearly soil-your-linens laughter.  You know, now that I think about it, x-x-x 
could be cynical laughter...  And hey!  C-C-C (voiceless, palatal fricative) 
could be light tittering, often represented by "hee, hee, hee!" in English.  
Ah, ideas!


    Ah!  I just got the urge to say that I'm a fish in Megdevi, but I can't 
remember the word for fish!  The phrase is by no means complex, so if I can't 
remember the real word for "fish", it's pointless...  <sigh>  Oh well.  I'll 
say something I do know how to say:

s&m Zoj ?ojIm magapo, spAjs ?oj karato tSejn!

If you mother me, I'll run away!

-David


     

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