Re: Mbasa Vowels

Okay, this is kind of neat...

A question to the list, though - is this essentially diphthong creation?
Simafira has five vowels, and, depending on the exact definition of a diphthong,
which I don't know, it either has no diphthongs, or 25 of them.  The sounds in
fact follow logically; [a] + [i] ==> [ai], with as little glide as possible in
between.  (Though I am working on a glottal stop inserted to set apart some
prefixes, but that's a grammatic construct.)

  ---------< Original Message >---------
  To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
  From: David Peterson <DigitalScream@...>
  Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001
  Subject: Mbasa Vowels

>    Up until recently, all the words I come up with for Mbasa featured CV
>syllable structure (where C could be a consonant or a consonant
>cluster/prenasalized segment, as the [mb] in Mbasa).  I intended to have
>words begin with vowels, but I didn't know what to do when these initials
>vowels came in contact with syllable final vowels that were next to it.  I
>came up with an answer that led me to a dialectical debate.
>    So, the idea is that some affix that ends in a vowel will come in contact
>with a word that begins with a vowel, and what we're interested in is the two
>vowels coming together.  So, here's a chart I've made as to what happens when
>each of the five vowels comes in contact with each of the other five:
>
>1.) Lengthening:  When two like vowels come together it produces one long
>vowel, such that:
>[a]+[a]=[a:], [e]+[e]=[e:], [i]+[i]=[i:], [o]+[o]=[o:] and [u]+[u]=[u:]
>
>2.) Glides with [i]: When [a], [u], [o] or [e] come after [i], a [j] is
>inserted between them, resulting in [ija], [iju], [ijo] and [ije].  Also,
>when [a], [u], [i] or [o] come after [e], it produces [eja], [eju], [eji] and
>[ejo].
>
>3.) Glides with [u]: When [a], [i], [o] or [e] come after [u], it produces
>[uwa], [uwi], [uwo] and [uwe].  When [a], [u], [i] and [e] come after [o], it
>produces [owa], [owu], [owi] and [owe].
>
>    That's pretty standard; here comes the interesting part.
>
>4.) When [e], [o], [i] and [u] come after [e], the same glide insertaion rule
>applies, with the glide associated with [a] (that being the backwards [?]
>glottal stop symbol, often erroneously referred as a voiced, pharyngeal
>fricative).  [Note: [?/] is what I'm using for the backwards glottal stop
>symbol]  So, it renders [a?/e], [a?/o], [a?/i] and [a?/u].
>
>    Looking at those, they seem kind of difficult to make.  So I imagined to
>dialects in which one set of speakers insists on keeping the medial [?/],
>while others make them diphthongs, such that [a]+[e] or [i]=[aj], and [a]+[o]
>or [u]=[aw].  Similarly, they have [o]+[i] or [e] becomming [oj] (as in
>Latin), and high front+close mid vowels rendering long close mid, so
>[e]+[i]=[e:] and [o]+[u]=[o:].
>
>    Anyway, that was how I solved my problem; thought I'd share it with the
>list.  :)
>
>-David
--
Steve Kramer   -=oOo=-   scooter at buser dot net
Thought for today:
  "Awwww, isn't that cute...but it's WRONG!"
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