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Re: Introductions and a question about consonants

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 15, 2003, 20:26
Peter Clark scripsit:

> 3. One of the consonants may be dropped. This might also effect the following > vowel; for instance, if "think" were to undergo such a process, the /N/ > (ASCII IPA for "ng") might be dropped, but the /I/ remain nasalized. Thus, > you would end up with two contrastive words: "thick" and "think" would be > identical, except that the /I/ in "think" would be nasalized. Tada! New > phoneme. Currently, nasalized vowels are not contrasted in English, but > through such a process they could become so.
Well, in fact I do pronounce "think" as [TI~k], so this is not the whole story. For [I~] to become a new phoneme, it would have to contrast not just with plain [I] but with [In].
> We like to talk. A lot. Incessantly. At all hours.
Which is why the conlang list was held until I exercised my Strange Powers this morning and freed it. But it would be nice if someone who got a "Your message has been held" let me know, because if that happens then I can free the list pretty much right away (unless I am asleep or such). -- There are three kinds of people in the world: John Cowan those who can count, http://www.reutershealth.com and those who can't. jcowan@reutershealth.com

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Peter Clark <peter-clark@...>