Re: an "i" for an /i/ was: Heyas all!

Mathew Willoughby wrote:
> What do most of you on this list use?  I've gotten the impression
> that a Latin-based spelling, modified by the creator's own conventions
> for non-Latin sounds, seems to be prevalent.
I usually base it on Latin/IPA as well, so that the vowels have their
"cardinal" values, i.e., i =3D /i/, etc.  Of course, with allophonic rule=
s
it can be complicated, if I were to use these in stories, I'd probably
want to adapt my spelling.  Here's the rules for Watya'i'sa:
Vowels =3D i, a, u
/i/ =3D [e] in closed syllables, [i] in open
/u/ =3D [o] in closed, [u] in open
/a/ =3D front following dental sounds, back following velar/labiovelar
sounds, central otherwise.  Sometimes [@] in low-pitch preceding
high-pitch syllable.
ai =3D /aj/
au =3D /Au/

Consonants - here's where it gets complicated - this is the Standard
Dialect
<p> =3D /p/
<t> =3D /t/, or /tS/ before /i/
<ty> =3D /tS/
<k> =3D /k/ or /C/ before /i/ (/C/ =3D palatal fricative, German ich)
<ky> =3D /C/
<b> =3D /b/
<d> =3D /d/ or /r\/ (alv. approximate) before /i/
<dy> =3D /r\/
<g> =3D /g/ or /j/ before /i/
<gy> =3D /j/
<y> =3D /j/
<w> =3D /w/
<l> =3D /l/
<m> =3D /m/
<n> =3D /m/ before /p/, /b/, /m/
      [N] before /k/, /g/
      Palatal nasal before /j/
      [n] elsewhere
<s> =3D /s/ or /S/ before /i/
<sy> =3D /S/
<q> =3D /T/
<z> =3D /z/ or /Z/ before /i/
<zy> =3D /Z/
<dh>, <=F0> =3D /D/

The reason for this orthography are twofold.  One, history, i.e., <sy>
was originally [sj] --> [Sj] (at the same time that [si] --> [Si]), then
[Sj] --> [S], creating a new phoneme.

Secondly, it makes the morphology MUCH simpler.  For instance, ti- is a
gender-prefix.  If it were written phonemically, thus something like
chi-, you'd have to explain that chi- become t- before an <a>, <u>, or
<l>, and that chi- + y- becomes ch-.  With this orthography, you only
have to explain that the <i> is dropped before vowels and approximates.=20
One complication exists, however, <tw>, <dw> and <nw> cannot exist.=20
They become, respectively, <p>, <b>, and <m>, so thus a noun beginning
with <w> still has a change, thus swina' (native, epicene) becomes pina'
(t-wina'; native, female).  For whatever reason, they replace the *tw
with <p>.  This also holds true at the end of words.  -u become -wi in
the plural, so a word ending with -nu' becomes -mi' in the plural (nu
--> *nwi --> mi)

Now, as for <ky> and <gy>, these differe greatly from dialect to
dialect.  Here's a few:
ky   ki
-------
C    Ci
S    Si (thus merged with sy/si)
x    Ci
tS   tSi (thus merged with ty/ti)
h    Si
--   Si
x    xi

gy   gi
-------
j    ji
J    Ji (J =3D palatal voiced fricative)
M\   M\i (M\ =3D velar approximate)
Z    Zi
dZ   dZi
G    Ji
G    Gi

--=20
"It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father
was hanged." - Irish proverb
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