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Re: Phonology/orthography sketch

From:Lars Mathiesen <thorinn@...>
Date:Thursday, May 29, 2008, 7:14
2008/5/28, Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>:
> Phonetically there exists [H] or [j\_w] as > allophones of /j/ next to a rounded vowel or > /w/, and of /w/ next to /i/. The writing system > writes this allophonic sound with _u_ in spite > of its occurrence being wholly conditioned by > adjacent sounds: a word spelled _uintou_ could > only be /wintoj/; a spelling _wintoi_ could not > be a distinct word, but only an unusual, > although phonemically more 'correct', spelling of > the same word. Similarly _au_ or _eu_ could > never occur without a following conditioning _i > u w o_; a spelling _euor_ would always represent > /ejor/ and might be derived from a word _ei_. > Similarly _euir_ would be /ewir/, possibly > derived from an _ew_.
What happens if you have both /i/ and a rounded vowel next to these approximants? Do you get [iju] or [iHu], [uwi] or [uHi], and so on? Are there any contexts where this could cause the difference between //i// and //w// to be neutralized? (If /y/ would trigger [w] > [H] like /i/ does, we'd have tuut [tHyt] for both //tu"yt// and //ti"yt//, and maybe tuut [tyHt] for //t"yut// and //t"yit//). Lars