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Re: vowel scheme for new language

From:Carlos Thompson <carlos_thompson@...>
Date:Sunday, May 23, 1999, 4:16
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Matt Pearson wrote:

> On Wed, 19 May 1999, dunn patrick w wrote: >=20 > > Does this sound like a plausible vowel scheme? > > > > a -- low back > > e -- mid front > > i -- high front > > o -- round low back > > u -- round mid front >=20 > If by "plausible" you mean "likely to occur in natural languages", > I would have to say no. Human languages prefer to have 'balanced' > vowel systems, e.g.: >=20 > i u > a >=20 > Or: i u > @ > a >=20 > Or: i u > e o > a
I somehow like unbalanced systems (but never as Dunn's proposals. The = system used in Hangkerimce is: i u E A With many allophonies, and shifts... (for example, an <a> near a = stressed <u> would become a rounded [Q] or [O], but near a stressed <i> = would become [a] or [&]). Some othe posibility I've playing around lately i 1 M e E V a where M stands for unrounded u and 1 for middle i (i barred in IPA). Or an eight system like i M,u E V,O A,Q where Q is the rounded A. Anyhow, English is not completely balanced. o_o =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3Dw=3D=3D=3Dw=3D=3D=3D=3D####### Chlewey Thompin ## #### http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9028/ ## ## ## ------------------------------------------------##-## ## ### - =BFPor qu=E9 no? - No tiene sentido. - =BFQu=E9 sentido? El sentido no existe. - El sentido inverso. O el sentido norte. El sentido com=FAn, tal = vez. O sin sentido, como aqu=ED. (-- Graeville 2) ------=_NextPart_000_007D_01BEA4A9.1CC5B5A0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Matt Pearson wrote:<BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>&gt; On Wed, 19 May 1999, dunn patrick w = wrote:<BR>&gt;=20 <BR>&gt; &gt; Does this sound like a plausible vowel scheme?<BR>&gt;=20 &gt;<BR>&gt; &gt; a -- low back<BR>&gt; &gt; e -- mid front<BR>&gt; &gt; = i --=20 high front<BR>&gt; &gt; o -- round low back<BR>&gt; &gt; u -- round mid=20 front<BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; If by "plausible" you mean "likely to occur in = natural=20 languages",<BR>&gt; I would have to say no.&nbsp; Human languages prefer = to have=20 'balanced'<BR>&gt; vowel systems, e.g.:<BR>&gt; <BR>&gt;=20 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; i&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; = u<BR>&gt;=20 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a<BR>&gt; = <BR>&gt;=20 Or:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; i&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; u<BR>&gt;=20 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; @<BR>&gt;=20 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a<BR>&gt; = <BR>&gt;=20 Or:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; i&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; u<BR>&gt;=20 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; e&nbsp;&nbsp; o<BR>&gt; = &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; = a<BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>I somehow like unbalanced systems (but never as = Dunn's=20 proposals.&nbsp; The system used in Hangkerimce is:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DCourier size=3D2>&nbsp; i&nbsp;&nbsp; u</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DCourier size=3D2>&nbsp; E</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DCourier size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; = A</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>With many allophonies, and shifts... (for example, = an=20 &lt;a&gt; near a stressed &lt;u&gt; would become a rounded [Q] or [O], = but near=20 a stressed &lt;i&gt; would become [a] or [&amp;]).</FONT></DIV> <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Some othe posibility I've playing around = lately</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>&nbsp; i&nbsp; 1&nbsp; M</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp; e</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; E&nbsp;&nbsp; V</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>where M stands for unrounded u and 1 for middle i (i = barred in=20 IPA).</FONT></DIV> <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Or an eight system like</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DCourier size=3D2>&nbsp; i&nbsp;&nbsp; M,u</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DCourier size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;E&nbsp; = V,O</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DCourier size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; = A,Q</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DCourier size=3D2>where Q is the rounded = A.</FONT></DIV> <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D2>Anyhow, English is not completely = balanced.</FONT></DIV> <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV> <DIV><FONT=20 size=3D2>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbs= p;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp= ;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= &nbsp;&nbsp;=20 o_o<BR>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3Dw=3D=3D=3Dw=3D=3D=3D=3D#####= ##<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;=20 Chlewey=20 Thompin&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&= nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20 ## ####<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp; <A=20 href=3D"http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9028/">http://www.geocities.co= m/Paris/Rue/9028/</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20 ## ## ##<BR>------------------------------------------------##-##=20 ##<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&= nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n= bsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nb= sp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbs= p;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20 ###<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp; - =BFPor qu=E9 no?<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp; - No tiene=20 sentido.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp; - =BFQu=E9 sentido?&nbsp; El sentido no=20 existe.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp; - El sentido inverso.&nbsp; O el sentido = norte.&nbsp; El=20 sentido com=FAn, tal vez.&nbsp; O sin sentido, como = aqu=ED.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=20 (-- Graeville 2)</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_007D_01BEA4A9.1CC5B5A0--