Re: Initial /?/ (was: Number)

> I suspect there are plenty of languages with /?-/ : /0-/  contrast,
> provided
> they also contrast in other positions.  Tonga, Samoa, Hawaiian to
> my
> knowledge.  It's certainly audible in the flow of speech; in list
> pronunciation there might be a tendency, as in English, for
> automatic
> glottal onset.
I kind of doubt this.  I'm just a native English speaker, so my opinion
isn't everything, but while I can easily distinguish [pa?e] from [pa.e],
I can barely tell the difference between [?a] and [a].  I wouldn't be
surprised if languages that almost have that contrast actually do
something extra to the vowels beginning without a glottal stop, like
beginning with a voiced [h] (IPA heng, hook-top h).

> It would even be possible to have a language where, although glottal
> onset
> is
> automatic, when you add a prefix some forms have /?/, others don't;
> so it
> must be there underlyingly.  E.g.  (made up forms)  [?imis]
> [paka?imis] vs.
> [?itun] [pakaitun]
Oh, yes.  This seems much more likely, and I remember running across
something like it somewhere--Arabic, maybe?

Jesse S. Bangs     Pelíran
jaspax @juno.com
"There is enough light for those that desire only to see, and enough
darkness for those of a contrary disposition."  --Blaise Pascal

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