Re: Initial /?/ (was: Number)

David Peterson wrote:
>     Yes, but say I went up to my friend and said, "I want to go to the
> movies."  How on Earth would I be able to tell whether "I" began with a
> glottal stop or not?  Would there be a noticeable difference?  We do hear
> some words in isolation at the beggining of utterances.  If we didn't, then
> we'd just never stop speaking.
True.  However, context would most likely clarify.  It would just be a
kind of homophony, one that only exists in a few situations.  Suppose
that there were a pair of words /?alas/ (want) and /alas/ (be afraid to)
in a verb-initial language, and you said that sentence in isolation, so
that it could be mis-heard as "I'm afraid to go to the movies".  Well,
suppose the other person misheard it.  He'd probably say something like
"Why?", then you might say "There's a movie I want to see", "Oh!  I
thought you said you were *afraid* to go to the movies".

--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
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