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Re: Primary Interjections - Universals?

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Saturday, April 6, 2002, 12:59
En réponse à Levi Tooker <nerd525@...>:

> > Well, French "aïe" is not really a diphthong. The /a/ > and the /i/ are two separate vowels, so in SAMPA it > would be /a"i/ >
Sorry to disagree, but I'm a native French and I never ever heard (and never used) something pronounced /a"i/ for "aïe". It's definitely pronounced /aj/ and nothing else, by everyone I ever heard using it. Even when the interjection is prolonged (some people do :)) ), it becomes /"aji:/ and it stays stressed at the beginning. Funny enough, only "aïe" is ever prolonged. "ouille" which is otherwise synonymous is never prolonged. It's always simply /uj/.
> Of course, the interjections I use when injured tend > to be of the form (voiceless fricative)+(lax > vowel)+(voiceless stop) ;-) >
In French we tend to have (voiced nasal)+(open mid vowel)+(voiced fricative)+ (voiced stop), but people who really hurt hard have a long version consisting of (voiceless stop)+(high vowel)+(voiceless stop)+(nasal vowel)+(voiced stop)+ (schwa)+(voiced stop)+(open mid vowel)+(voiced fricative)+(voiced stop)+(open mid vowel)+(voiced lateral)+(voiced stop)+(schwa)+(voiced nasal)+(open mid vowel)+(voiced fricative)+(voiced stop) :)))) . Who will guess what the expression is? :)) That person wins a dinner at home made by my very good cook of a boyfriend :)) (and the ones who already ate at home know how good such a prize is :)) ). Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.