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Re: Tit'xka (Pretty Long Post)

From:Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 29, 1998, 23:55
Sheets, Jeff wrote:

> > It's looks quite interesting, although I think I would personally hav=
e to
> > put more detailed study than just a few minutes to give a full answer=
to that
> > question. The phonology certainly seems to reinforce the feeling tha=
t these people
> are > > very foreign from at least the English perspective. But one thing I'=
m curious about:
> > have you considered making a distinctive series of aspirated consonan=
ts in contrast
> > to nonaspirated ones? That might fit in with the alienness of it, but=
also
> > allow you a little more phonological freedom in which to work... > > > I'm not following you here. What exactly do you mean by a distinctive > series of aspirated consonants in contrast to nonaspirated ones?
Well, in English, whenever you pronounce a voiceless stop like /k/, if yo= u do it at the beginning of a syllable like in "cat", a brief extra puff of= air follows, called aspiration. In English, this extra puff doesn't make any differen= ce (except for making e.g. the difference between /k/ and /g/ slightly greater), but= in many languages, e.g. Hindi, the difference between having the puff and no= t having the puff is as great as the difference between /k/ and /g/ in the = minds of the speakers. For example, Hindi's set of (stop) consonants has: p t k ph th kh b d g bh dh gh (<--- these are the socalled "voiced aspirates", very very= rare as consonants go - only 6 modern languages have 'em) So, I was thinking that since you said that voicing is difficult for your aliens, having a series of aspirated consonants being distinct from non- aspirated consonants would make it easier on you, in that you could make more phonological distinctions than would be possible otherwise. It's just an idea; you don't have to follow up on it. =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=3D=3D=3D Tom Wier <twier@...> ICQ#: 4315704 AIM: Deuterotom Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/> "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero." "S=F4=F0 is gecy=FEed / =FE=E6t mihtig God manna cynes / w=EAold w=EEde-ferh=F0." _Beowulf_, ll. 700-702 =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=3D=3D=3D