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Re: Tonal Languages taken to extremes

From:Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...>
Date:Monday, October 1, 2001, 14:01
>From: Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...> >Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 08:13:50 -0400 > >On Fri, 28 Sep 2001 21:59:04 -0400, Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...> >wrote: > > >There were four voice qualities -- plain, rough, whispered and tense. > >(ispired by a combination of Bai and Vietnamese) > >I'm afraid 'tense' and especially 'wispered' won't freely combine with >tones... >
Strange. I never had a bit of difficulty combining them. They pronounced just fine for me.
> >I had three vowel lengths -- short, long and extralong. (a la Estonian, >I > >believe) > >Same kind of doubt here. I think at least the 'broken' tones will require >a non-short vowel. Perhaps, 'short' will keep distinct only the three level >tones. >
No. It just means that "short" "long" and "Double-long" have different absolute values depending on the tone. The three-way distinction survives.
>At any rate, I'd try to pronounce it before making any definite >decisions... ;) >
Oh, I've pronounced it. 'Cides, they're aliens, and "optimized" for such oddities. They find *our* languages with consonants truely unpronounceable and needlessly exotic.
> >All vowels could be rounded. > >Do you mean an attached w-glide? >
No. I mean that the basic 9 vowels are all unrounded. Each of these unround vowels has a round counterpart. Mid-central-round short low-falling neutral voice sounds like a gorrilla grunt!
>If you add some diphthongs (and triphthongs?) to the non-short, you can get >more. >
Egads! No more! I'm already bumfuzzeled as to what to do about a native script or a workable romanization. I hated my tonal spelling option. Glides or dipthongs would likely rob me of some of my romanization options for vowels. I need "w" and "y" for distinct vowels. This language is reminding me why I abandoned it once before.
> >I seem to recall having 3 front vowels, three central vowels and three >back > >vowels, thought that could be amiss. > > > >9 vowels times 2 roundness settings = 18 > >times 3 lengths = 54 > >times 4 voice qualities = 216 > >times 13 tones = 2808 distinct monosyllables!!!!! > > > >Wow. I don't hink I'll need more than two-syllable words in this lang. > >Three would be redundant!! > > > >Adam > >Basilius
Adam again _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>