Re: Japanese phonemes (was Re: The Monovocalic PIE Myth (was Germans have no /w/, ...))

Nik Taylor wrote:

> Japanese has a pretty symmetrical *phonemic* inventory:
>
> p   t   k
> b   d   g
>     s   h
>     z
> m   n
>     r
> w     j
>
> With some degree of asymmetry in *distribution* in native roots:
> /p/ only occurs geminated or post-nasal
> /r/ never occurs word-initially
Eh?? Ryukyu islands; Ryoanji temple (with the famous sand garden); Roppongi
(sp.?) a district in Tokyo IIRC. Rashomon the film. Ran ('Chaos') another
film, Japanese take on King Lear. Not to mention everybody's favorite
_ramen_ ???

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